The Poplarville Hornets defeated Sumrall’s Bobcats 54-45 Monday night in an important district game.

Poplarville shared the wealth when it came to scoring as three Hornet players reached double digits.

Torry Polk had 18 points and 8 assists, Semaj Young had 10 points and 10 boards and Amari Gilmore added 10 points as well.

Head Coach Run Bowen made an offensive change for the Sumrall game.

This season the Hornets pushed the ball and played a high tempo style of basketball.

However, against the Bobcats the team changed the pace of play.

“I would give my guys a lot of credit. We played a little better, shortened our rotation and slowed the game down a bit. That helped our guys,” Bowen said.

Riley Josey has been a consistent threat for the Hornets this year.

Even though he didn’t fill up the stat sheet against Sumrall, Bowen said Josey’s effort helps him stand out.

“He’s one of our guys who plays multiple positions. He’ll play inside or outside and (against Sumrall) he played quite a bit outside. He just plays so hard in whatever position he’s in,” Bowen said. Next up for the Hornets is a district game against Stone County on Jan. 29.

Poplarville lost the previous match up against Stone earlier in the season, so to try and achieve a different result Bowen said the team will once again change the offensive game plan.

“We’re going to try to slow them down and grind the game out. If we grind it out, pick our opportunities to score, share the ball, take care of the ball and get stops when needed (we’ll have a shot),” Bowen said.

Stone will serve as one of the last few regular season games for Poplarville before the start of the district tournament.

Bowen has been trying to help his team build on every performance this year so when the tournament rolls around the team will be playing its best basketball.

The victory over Sumrall is an indication the Hornets are on the right path.

“I think last night was a start towards that. The balance in scoring is letting me know they’re sharing the ball and looking for each other, which gives me the idea we’re heading towards our best basketball. Stone is going to be more in your face with pressure and aggressive. How we respond to that will likely dictate how we finish the year,” Bowen said.