By Curtis Rockwell, Sports Editor
The Picayune Item
BILOXI —
Poplarville dropped a Division 8-4A game at home Friday night.
The Hornets fell 52-36 to visiting St. Stanislas in league action. The Poplarville boys got 16 points from Emetric Fells in the loss, which dropped them to 5-3 in league play.
The Rock-A-Chaws took over first place in the league standings with the win, moving to 6-2 in the district.
St. Stanislaus will also take part in an interesting contest today at the 19th annual HoopsFest at the Coast Coliseum here in Biloxi.
The Rocks will take on Hancock High at 12:30 in the event. The game will be the first between the neighboring county rivals in 12 years, since the 2000-2001 season.
HoopsFest, an all day, eight game affair featuring eight prep boys games, tips off with Vancleave-Ocean Springs at 9:30 a.m. followed by Bay High-D'Iberville at 11 a.m., then the SSC-Hancock game.
The afternoon session also features Pascagoula-Harrison Central at 2 p.m., Moss Point-Pass Christian at 3:30 p.m. and St. Martin-West Harrison at 5 p.m.
Evening games include Gulfport-Madison Central at 6:30 p.m., the 3-point and slam dunk contest at 8 p.m. and Biloxi-Callaway at 8:30 p.m.
Top players in HoopsFest include
Moss Point's Devin Booker, St. Martin's Ed Simpson, Pascagoula's Tracy Hadley, Pass Christian's Dimitri Cook, Harrison Central's Chris White, West Harrison's Harvey Smart, Hancock's Matt Rawls, Biloxi's TaVonn Tyson, Gulfport's Jashire Hardnett, Callaway's Malik Newman and Madison Central's Joniah White.
Newman, the son of former Mississippi State star Horatio Webster, led the Chargers to the 5A state championship as a freshman last season.
The event also features a 3-point/slam dunk contest prior to the final game. Tickets for HoopsFest are $7 in advance from any participating school, and $9 at the door on Saturday.
