POPLARVILLE, Miss. — Despite playing an hour earlier than scheduled and facing a different opponent than initially planned, the No. 15 Pearl River men's basketball team rose to the challenge Friday evening, defeating Enterprise State 81-73 in its season opener.
"I'm pleased with a lot of things we did tonight, but I also saw some things we need to work on moving forward," head coach Chris Oney said.
Oney talked about getting the opportunity to host the All-State Invitational sponsored by The Pigott Agency.
"I love it. This is something I've been wanting to do since back before COVID, but I let the idea go until now," he said. "I reached out to a couple of guys and hopefully will be able to do this again next year."
HOW IT HAPPENED
Enterprise State (0-1 overall) opened the score by knifing through the lane for a layup. Pearl River (1-0) found a quick response when sophomore Ezereke Dawson Jr. (Plant City, Fla.) fought through hard contact and laid the ball up and in.
From there, both teams struggled to create chances, fighting to an 8-8 deadlock. The Wildcats found a spark through the play of Austin Green (Sicklerville, N.J.; Timber Creek Regional), who powered his way to the rim for a hard-fought layup to take the lead 10-8. The Wildcats continued the run moments later after an ESCC player lost control of the ball. Pearl River drove down the court where Kam Beverly (Jackson; Jackson Academy) snuck behind the defense and received a lobbed pass, slamming it home.
Green increased the lead to 14-8 by Euro stepping through the defense for an acrobatic layup. After ESCC cut the deficit 16-13, David Combest Jr. (Hattiesburg, Forrest County) drained a 3-pointer to restore a six-point cushion, 19-13. From there, the Wildcats continued to assert their dominance and built out to a comfortable 45-23 lead at halftime.
ESCC opened the scoring in the second half by forcing a turnover and taking it coast-to-coast for a layup. The Boll Weevils continued to chip away at the deficit slowly and eventually cut it to a 10-point Wildcat lead, 46-35. Shortly after that, the Wildcats went on a 6-2 run to create some separation courtesy of another Green layup and Cedquavious Hunter (Como; North Panola) nailing a jump shot over an ESCC defender to set the score 52-38.
From there, the teams again began to exchange scores, with the Boll Weevils cutting the deficit to 67-56. Hunter took matters into his own hands by nailing four 3-pointers to hold off the late ESCC rally, giving the Wildcats the win 81-73.
TUNE IN
All home Pearl River basketball games are livestreamed for free at PRCCMedia.com/Gold. Fans who have Roku, Amazon Fire or Apple TV devices can also watch the Wildcat broadcasts by downloading the "Pearl River CC" channel from their app stores.
Games will also be available over the air in Pearl River County by tuning into 1320 AM and 106.9 FM. The radio broadcast is also available at WRJWRadio.com and by downloading the WRJW app.
TICKETS
To help improve traffic flow and fan experience, PRCC athletics box offices will be cashless in 2023-24. Only credit and debit cards will be accepted at the box office. Fans are encouraged to beat the lines and purchase their tickets in advance at PRCCAthletics.com/Tickets.
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