Thursday, March 04, 2010

State champ Wildcats end year with 73-65 semi-final loss to Indians in regionals
Itawamba snaps PRCC’s 18-game winning streak to snag berth in Region 23 title bout

    CLINTON — It won’t be a trip to the NJCAA National Tournament for the MACJC state champion Pearl River Wildcats this year.
    PRCC wrapped up its season at 24-5 overall here Wednesday with in A.E. Wood Coliseum on the Mississippi College campus a 73-65 loss to Itawamba in the Region 23 Tournament semi-finals and saw its unprecedented 18-game winning streak come to an abrupt halt.
    The Wildcats, who defeated the ICC 79-71 in the state tournament semis a week ago at East Mississippi CC in Scooba, committed 17 turnovers in their finale outing of the 2009-2010 season from which the Indians scored 23 points off those costly miscues.
    “It’s a tough chore to beat anybody twice in one week, much less a team the caliber of Itawamba,” said 19th-year Wildcat head coach Richard Mathis. “They’re a talented and well-coached team.
    “And we had way too many turnovers. That was very costly.”
    In the first half, the score was tied three times and the lead exchanged hands three times in the first nine minutes, but ICC’s Vincenzo Nelson scored a bucket off a Wildcat turnover to snap a 14-14 stalemate at the 11:15 mark to put the Indians up by two. Itawamba maintained its lead for the next eight minutes, before a 13-10 PRCC run, capped by a pair of free throws by Emil Jones of North Forrest High, gave the Wildcats a 27-26 edge at the 3:38 mark.
    Pearl River managed to build its lead to five — 31-26 — over the next minute, but Todd Nelson’s trey in the final minute and a two by Xavier Ruth with 20 seconds left gave Itawamba a 36-33 lead at the intermission.
    The Wildcats regained the lead in the opening minutes of the second half, but Vincenzo Nelson pulled off a three-point play three minutes in to give ICC a 41-40 advantage that it never relinquished.
    The Indians built their lead to as many as 14 points — 62-48 — with 7:00 left, but the Wildcats answered with an impressive 17-4 run, capped by a three-pointer by Kenderek Washington of Hinds AHS, to cut Itawamba’s lead to 68-65 with 1:27 remaining. PRCC wouldn’t score another point, while ICC went five-for-six at the foul line in the final minute.
    Ruth led the Indians with a game-high 20 points (six rebounds), while Todd Nelson added 15 (three treys, six rebounds, two blocked shots), Vincenzo Nelson 11 (five rebounds, three blocked shots), Wesley McIntosh and Jeremy Word (five rebounds), six each; Akeem Caddell five (six rebounds), Melvin Morgan four, and Jonathan Luster and Wendell Williams, three each.
    Phillip Crawford out of Murphy High in Mobile, Ala., paced the Wildcats with 17 points (two blocked shots) and a game-high 10 boards, while Washington scored 15 (three treys, seven rebounds, two blocked shots), Jones 10 (eight rebounds), Desmond Ratliff of Canton High eight (five steals), Rod Little of Moss Point seven, Denzel McDaniel out of LeFlore High in Mobile six, and Zach Vickers out of Paxton High in Laurel Hill, Fla., two.
    Itawamba was 24 of 61 (39.3 percent) from the field to Pearl River’s 24-of-63 (38.1 percent) effort, while the Indians were six of 13 (46.2 percent) from three-point range to the Wildcats four-of-19 (21.1 percent) showing. ICC hit 76 percent (19 of 25) at the foul line, while PRCC hit 61.9 percent (13 of 21).
    Itawamba also won the rebounding battled with 48 boards (18 offensive, 30 defensive) to Pearl River’s 41 (17 offensive, 24 defensive).
    Fifth-seeded ICC will face second-seeded East Mississippi in the men’s regional title bout Thursday at 8 p.m. EMCC defeated sixth-seeded Hinds 81-74 in overtime in Wednesday’s semi-final nightcap game.
    The regional champion will earn a berth in the NJCAA Men’s National Tournament set for March 16-20 in Hutchinson, Kan.