NICEVILLE, Fla. — The No. 10 Pearl River men's basketball team had to battle hard but came away with a 74-68 victory over Gulf Coast State in its first road contest of the 2022-23 campaign on Friday night. The game was hosted at Northwest Florida State.

"It was our first time on the road, and we had a battle like this," head coach Chris Oney said. "We played against a really good team. I'm happy that we were able to fight through a little adversity to pull out the win."

Oney talked about his team having to fight to earn the victory.

"Gulf Coast State played really, really hard," he said. "They were always within striking distance of us. A couple of times, it felt like we were going to bust the game open, but we had some bad turnovers and bad shot selection. Those are things I think we can learn from moving forward."

Gulf Coast State (0-2 overall) took the lead on its opening possession with a 3-pointer, but it was all Wildcats (2-0) after that.

Pearl River held the lead for over 14 minutes in the first half of the evening, going into the midway point with a slim 32-30 lead.

By the end of the game, PRCC had maintained the lead for 33 minutes and came away with a 74-68 win over the Commodores.

LEADING THE WAY
Carlous Williams (Hattiesburg; Harrison Central) was remarkable for the Wildcats. The Tulsa commit set a career-high in both points and rebounds with 24 and 12, respectively. His 24 points were a game-high.

"It was his turn tonight. He was able to take the lead," Oney said. "They watched some film and did a good job of taking a few things away from Carlous. He was able to pick up some slack. We still managed to have five guys in double figures, so a lot of guys stepped up and played well."

Jermahri Hill (Bessemer, Ala.; Berkmar) finished the night with 14 points, four rebounds and four assists.

Jakari Livingston (Pine Bluff, Ark.; Wilber D. Mills) scored 12 points and pulled in two boards.

Dylan Brumfield (Oak Grove) and Cam Brown (Hattiesburg) each finished with 11 points to round out Wildcats in double figures. Brumfield's five assists led the team.

NEXT UP
Pearl River returns to the court tomorrow for a game against reigning NJCAA DI National Champion and No. 1 ranked Northwest Florida State. The game against the Raiders is set to get underway at 4 p.m. and will be livestreamed at NWFRaiders.com.

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