POPLARVILLE, Miss. — It was a stressful sophomore night for the Pearl River men's basketball team, but the Wildcats fought until the end to secure a 68-62 victory Saturday night in Marvin R. White Coliseum. The victory marked a 22nd consecutive win over the Bears.
"My playbook was thin tonight because we decided to go a little bit bigger since they are such a tall team," head coach Chris Oney said. "We had matchup problems, so I tried to start in the zone, and they got off to a good start. We had a funky rhythm on offense, so if we are going to do that in the future, I'll have to figure out ways to keep our rhythm."
GAME RECAP
A slow start dug Pearl River (10-2 overall) into an early hole, trailing 16-6 with 12:14 remaining in the first half of play. A well-timed timeout by the Wildcat coaching staff flipped the switch for Pearl River as it began to recover from its deficit.
Austin Green (Sicklerville, N.J.; Timber Creek Regional) knocked down a trio of free throws before Ta'Zir Smith (Woodbridge, Va.; Virginia Academy) sliced a pull-up jumper from the free-throw line into the basket. Dyllion Redmond (Jackson; Callaway) nailed his lone shot from the charity stripe and the Wildcats were down by just four points, 16-12.
A fantastic play by Smith moved the Wildcats within one basket as he received the ball on the Bear's side of the court, rumbled his way down the court, sidestepped a defender, and laid it off the glass and in, 16-14.
Baton Rouge (7-9) didn't let the Wildcats come back too quickly, though, fighting back to stretch out a 23-18 advantage. PRCC came within one point at the five-minute mark after a perfect trip to the line from Green, 23-22.
Pearl River took its first lead of the game at the 1:30 mark in the first half but did it in exciting fashion. Davion James (Brandon; Northwest Rankin) nailed a mid-range jumper, and on the following play, he took the ball away from a Bear defender and cruised down the court for a coast-to-coast layup, 27-26. Cedquavious Hunter (Como; North Panola) caught a feed in the corner from Redmond and nailed his 3-pointer to finally give the Wildcats a lead, 29-27.
Baton Rouge snatched the lead back, but PRCC closed out the half with a 33-30 advantage.
As if there wasn't enough excitement in the first half, the second half was sure to keep fans on the edge of their seats throughout — thanks in part to eight lead changes across the 20-minute half. PRCC rapidly stretched out a 39-35 lead when James lobbed an inbound pass to Green for a tap-in basket, but the Bears stormed back to take the lead with 14:44 remaining, nailing a 3-point shot, 42-41. The lead was short-lived, though, as Dorien Goodman (Dallas, Texas; Lancaster) dove to the court to battle for an offensive rebound, looked up, and bounced a pass to Smith in the corner. Smith's 3-point attempt was true and made the score 44-42 in PRCC's favor.
A BRCC basket with 11:39 left in the contest pushed them back in front, 46-44. PRCC grabbed the lead back at the 9:17 mark when Smith corralled his own miss and put it right back up, 49-48.
Baton Rouge eventually fought to take a 58-54 lead near the five-minute mark in the second half, but a ferocious put-back slam off the hands of Redmond squared things up at 58-58.
The final tie of the contest happened with just under two minutes left to play before a smart play by James allowed the Wildcats to take the lead. The freshman drove inside and flipped a pass around a defender to Green. Green secured the ball and thrashed home a two-handed slam, 64-62. Hunter provided the dagger one possession later, receiving a pass beyond the arc and nailing a 3-pointer, 67-62. One free throw by Smith later, and Pearl River walked away with a 68-62 victory.
BY THE NUMBERS
Smith had yet another fantastic night for the Wildcats, picking up his second straight double-double with a 24-point, 10-rebound performance. He chipped in five steals and three assists.
Green was second on the team in points, scoring 17. 11 came from the charity stripe. Hunter wrapped up those in double figures with 12 points.
Ezereke Dawson Jr. (Plant City, Fla.) and Green each had seven rebounds.
James was huge down the stretch for Pearl River, finishing with eight points, five rebounds, three assists and three assists.
"If Davion doesn't step up and play like he did then we don't win this game," Oney said. "Not just the eight points, but him being able to get the ball across the court and get us in an offense that we're familiar with was huge. I'm tough on him, but it's because we need him."
NEXT UP
Pearl River returns to Marvin R. White Coliseum on Monday for a 7:30 p.m. non-conference game against East Mississippi.
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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