POPLARVILLE, Miss. — The No. 10 Pearl River men's basketball team had an impressive season debut Tuesday night, thumping Southern University – Shreveport 95-72 inside of Marvin R. White Coliseum. Five Wildcats finished with double-digit points in the contest.

"We've had guys out sick, and we've had a few injuries here and there," Pearl River coach Chris Oney said. "We were tired, but I thought that we played hard. We were able to get everyone into the game tonight which shows our depth. We've got great players coming off the bench that could start on any other team. It was a good debut."

FIRST HALF
Pearl River (1-0 overall) got the 2022-23 campaign started with a bang, throwing down an alley-oop on the very first play of the game. Sophomore Dylan Brumfield (Oak Grove) moved to the left side of the court before lofting a pass for Jermahri Hill (Bessemer, Ala.; Berkmar) who slammed it home.

PRCC extended its lead out to 8-0 as Ayub Nurhussein (Hamilton, Ontario.; Toronto Basketball Academy) knocked down a 3-pointer. The basket forced a timeout for Southern-Shreveport (0-1).

The Wildcats went ahead 10-2 soon after as Cam Brown (Hattiesburg) plucked away a pass at the middle of the court and drove to the basket for an easy layup.
PRCC continued to build on its lead, eventually going ahead 17-4 after Nurhussein found Hill for a 3-pointer. On the very next Wildcat possession, Caleb Rawls (Columbia; Foxworth) grabbed an offensive rebound and immediately put it back up and into the basket to extend the lead to 19-4.

Brumfield pushed Pearl River ahead 27-14 midway through the half, losing a defender on a step-back and draining a 3-pointer.

The Wildcats continued to pour it on as they took a 40-19 lead after Jakari Livingston (Pine Bluff, Ark.; Wilbur D. Mills) jumped a pass and dashed down the court for a thunderous one-handed slam.

PRCC went into the break with a 55-36 lead.

SECOND HALF
Not long into the second half, Carlous Williams (Hattiesburg; Harrison Central) began to make his presence known. Williams scored all 12 of his points in the last 20 minutes. The sophomore picked up his first basket on an easy layup to put the Wildcats ahead 59-38.

The Wildcats jumped out to a 63-48 lead soon, using a Hill 3-pointer and layup. On the layup, Hill was fed a pass inside, worked his way through traffic, and laid the ball softly off the glass.

Williams got the crowd on its feet with a big slam soon after. The forward caught an inbound pass with his back to the basket before making a quick turn and picking up a forceful dunk. The play made the score 77-60.

Williams' great run resulted in the defense keying in on him on the next Wildcat possession. He drove inside and drew all the defenders. He quickly dished off to Livingston in the corner who hit nothing but net on the 3-point attempt.

PRCC kept on scoring down the stretch and earned a 95-72 victory in its season debut.

STATISTICALLY SPEAKING
Hill made the most of his Wildcat debut. The former three-star athlete finished with 27 points, five rebounds and two assists.

"Since I've been the head coach, I haven't had a freshman come in this talented," Oney said. "He's so far ahead. Some of the plays he made tonight were like a junior in college.

He's only going to get better and better. He has a lot of confidence and a lot of ability."

Brown was second on the team in points with 17. He also earned four boards and two blocks. Livingston finished with 16 points, four rebounds, four steals and two assists.

Williams and Brumfield rounded out the Wildcats in double-figures with 12 and 11 points, respectively. Williams had seven rebounds and Brumfield grabbed five.

UP NEXT
Pearl River travels to Niceville, Fla. on Friday for a game against Gulf Coast State College. Tipoff is set for 5 p.m. and will be livestreamed at NWFRaiders.com/multimedia.