POPLARVILLE, Miss. — The Pearl River men's basketball team made its final non-conference game of the 2024-25 season count Thursday night inside Marvin R. White Coliseum, shooting a blazing 58.2 percent from the field on the way to a 108-45 victory over Delgado.

"We were looking really good in spots before the break, but we were still going through the 'finding ourselves' phase," head coach Chris Oney said. "We had to figure out how we play on offense, how we play on defense and how our rotations needed to go. We're starting to get things down and take shape at the right time, with conference play starting soon."

Pearl River (11-3 overall) opened the night on an incredible 26-5 run against Delgado (2-14) — powered mostly by the efforts of Louisiana signee Krystian Lewis (Monroe, La.; Wossman). After going ahead 8-5 early, PRCC rattled off 18 consecutive points. A pair of Joah Chappelle (Atlanta, Ga.; Dutchtown) started the run before the Lewis takeover began. On back-to-back plays, Chappelle dished the ball off to Lewis on the right wing, and he drilled 3-pointers.

On the next offensive possession, Lewis fired a heat-check 3-pointer that hit nothing but net on the way down. Jamarion Smith (Magnolia; South Pike) caught a pass in the paint on the next play and threw down a two-handed slam. Lewis scored the final points of the run with his fifth 3-pointer of the first half.

One Delgado basket later, and the Wildcats embarked on a 15-0 run. Mason Lewis (Stockbridge, Ga.; Woodland) was the thunder during the streak for the Wildcats, scoring a trio of layups to help the Pearl River advantage grow to 41-7.

A few plays later, Krystian Lewis created offense with his defensive effort, swatting a layup attempt off the backboard that led to a huge down-court slam from Kedrick Osby (Moss Point), 45-11.

Pearl River didn't take its foot off the gas as the first half moved along and carried a 63-18 lead into the midway point.

Not much changed for the Wildcats when the second half began as they continued to score with ease. With a 72-23 lead, Smith sandwiched a fadeaway jumper and a putback around a Stevent Watkins Jr. (Ridgeland) 3-pointer to give PRCC a 79-23 lead.

Pearl River pulled out a 17-3 run late in the contest. Chappelle drove down the court for an easy basket and then plucked a ball away and went for a coast-to-coast layup, 90-38. Krystian Lewis struck from beyond the arc once more before Zahir Gutierrez (Olive Branch) and Cooper Kennedy (Laurel; West Jones) layups gave PRCC a 103-38 lead. 

The Wildcats tacked on five more points down the stretch to run away with a 108-45 victory over the Dolphins.

STATISTICALLY SPEAKING
Krystian Lewis finished with a career-high 28 points on 10-for-15 shooting. He nailed eight 3-pointers and added four rebounds, two assists and two steals. 

Chappelle finished with 17 points, seven assists, six rebounds and five steals. Osby scored 12 points and brought in two rebounds. 

Mason Lewis tallied 11 points, six rebounds, three assists and two steals. Smith scored 10 points and was two rebounds shy of a double-double with eight. 

Dylan Sanders (Aurora, Colo.), Watkins Jr. and Gutierrez each had eight points.

NEXT UP
The Wildcats head to Coahoma Monday for the first MACCC game of the season. Tipoff in Clarksdale is set for 7:30 p.m. The game will be livestreamed at CoahomaSports.com/watch.

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