POPLARVILLE, Miss. — The No. 14 Pearl River men's basketball team recovered from a sloppy start Thursday night to crush William Carey Junior Varsity, 77-55. The Wildcats didn't play four of its normal starters in the contest.

"I decided to sit out our normal starters and play a lot of different guys for a couple of reasons," Pearl River coach Chris Oney said. "I wanted to get the guys out there so that we can get enough film to show them what they need to improve on. To be able to win this thing again, you need at least nine guys that you can put out there. We need some of these players to be able to compete down the stretch.

"I think we saw a lot of good things tonight that will give us some good teaching points on film."

FIRST HALF
William Carey stunned Pearl River (4-1) at the start of the contest, opening up on an 8-1 run. PRCC finally picked up its first basket of the night courtesy of Ayub Nurhussein (Hamilton, Ontario; Toronto Basketball Academy). The sophomore drove inside the paint and battled for a layup to make it an 8-3 game.

The Crusaders extended their lead to 12-3 before the Wildcats started to battle back into the game. With his back to the goal, Dyllion Redmond (Jackson; Callaway) spun to the outside and knocked down a bank shot. Nurhussein followed it up by knocking down back-to-back 3-pointers to cut the deficit to one point at 12-11.

The Wildcats tied the game up at 20-20 midway through the half after Nurhussein nailed another 3-pointer.

WCU moved ahead 24-22 near the end of the half but Kylan Baggett (Starkville) caught a pass from Tre Dismuke (Columbus) and hit nothing-but-net on his 3-pointer to make the score 25-24 PRCC.

The Crusaders briefly retook the lead, but Baggett closed out the half with a perfect showing at the free-throw line to send the Wildcats into the break with a 27-26 advantage.

SECOND HALF
Nurhussein opened the second half of the night with a big-time slam dunk to push PRCC ahead 29-26. On the ensuing Crusader possession, they knocked down a 3-pointer but were fouled on the shot. After knocking down the free throw, WCU once again had the lead, 30-29.

Caleb Rawls (Columbia; East Marion) started his takeover just a few possessions later, picking up an offensive rebound and putting it back up. He then received a pass inside and floated a shot through the net to make the score 33-30 PRCC.

The Wildcats started to pile on as the clock went under 10 minutes, using a basket from D.J. Harried (Natchez; Warren Central) to take a 56-43 lead. On the score, Harried euro-stepped his way through the Crusader defense before laying it off the glass and into the basket.

Ty Moore (Grenada) battled for an offensive rebound and went back up for an easy layup to make the score 58-43 moments later.

Pearl River continued to add on down the stretch with Preston Turner (Laurel; West Jones) picking up a pair of buckets.

The Wildcats went on to earn a 77-55 victory.

BY THE NUMBERS
Nurhussein led the way for the Wildcats, finishing the game with a double-double. The 6-foot-9 forward collected 21 points and 12 rebounds. Rawls tied for the team lead in points with 21 and also pulled in nine rebounds.

"We saw a lot of improvement from those two guys tonight," Oney said. "I think that Ayub and Caleb are the keys to whether or not we can go and win this thing tonight."

Baggett and Jakari Livingston (Pine Bluff, Ark.; Wilbur D. Mills) each had 10 points and eight rebounds on the night.

Dismuke dished out the ball regularly to earn six assists.

NEXT UP
Pearl River hits the road Monday for a battle with archrival Gulf Coast. The game will get underway at 6 p.m. and will be livestreamed at MGCCCBulldogs.com/watch.

The game will also be broadcast at WRJWRadio.com.