KILN — Dekevian Coleman stepped to the free throw line with his Poplarville Hornets up 65-63 with just over seven seconds left in the game Friday night at Hancock North Central Elementary School.

Coleman received the bounce pass from the referee, calmly executed his free-throw routine and nailed the shot. He repeated the motion on the second shot and nailed it, putting Poplarville up 67-63 and effectively putting away the Hancock Hawks. The Hornets held on and won by the same score improving their record to 6-1 on the season.

The senior point guard was focused on rising to the occasion for his teammates.

“I wanted to step up for my team. Just stepping up as a senior, just making my free throws. Every practice we work on our free throws, and if we don’t make them, we have to run for it,” Coleman said. “We knew it was going to be a tough environment. We just knew we had to come in and play a good game and play together as a team. Coach told us some of the guards were going to have to step up and that’s what we did.”

The guards did step up. Coleman had 14 points and junior guard Tamiljah Merrill led the way with 24 points.

Senior forward Craig Barnes added 17 points. 

Poplarville trailed at the end of every quarter except for the fourth and battled back from an early first quarter run by the Hawks. Head Coach Chareck Cable was encouraged by the performance of his seniors.

“I think our seniors did an outstanding job. Dekevian played really well, he was talking to guys, he was leading, he was real vocal throughout the whole game,” Cable said. “These guys stepped up and shot the ball well on the road and I’m proud of these guys. Maybe they’re for real this year.”

Poplarville plays Friday at North Pike.