POPLARVILLE, Miss. – The Pearl River men’s basketball team sent their sophomores out on a high note in the final regular-season home game against Northeast on Thursday. Three Wildcats scored double-digits to lead PRCC to a 76-68 victory, extending the Wildcat winning streak to five games.

“Sophomore night is such a challenging night,” PRCC coach Chris Oney said of the Wildcat performance. “All of the families are here, different emotions, ‘This is my last regular season game as a Wildcat.’ 

Luckily, I have a mature bunch, they were able to fight through the challenges to get us a win.”

 

FIRST HALF

Down 3-0, Carlous Williams (Hattiesburg; Harrison Central) received an inbound pass and stepped by a defender for an uncontested reverse layup. On the next possession, Williams converted two free throws to give Pearl River (17-6 overall; 9-4 MACCC) a 4-3 lead. After a 6-0 Northeast (15-9; 6-6) run, Williams, off an assist by Dylan Brumfield (Oak Grove), hit a three to close the gap to 9-7. The Wildcats continued to use their team speed to score on the run in the paint. After a layup by Dyllion Redmond (Jackson; Callaway), the Wildcats scored on consecutive slash and score layups by Jermahri Hill (Bessemer, Ala.; Berkmar) and Cam Brown (Hattiesburg) to bring the score to 13-11. Redmond pushed the lead to 16-13 with a 3-pointer off the glass as the play clock expired. 

Hill brought the crowd to their feet with an exciting steal and breakaway dunk to give the Wildcats a 20-15 lead. Hill continued to be a human highlight reel as he scored 12 of the Wildcats final 14 points of the half. His scoring was punctuated by a couple of uncontested layups set up by him slashing past defenders in the lane. 

The Wildcats entered the break in a 33-33 stalemate. 

SECOND HALF

Williams opened up the second half by scoring with a strong rebound as he split two defenders with a layup. Brumfield found the hot hand, scoring PRCC’s next seven points. Brumfield converted an and-one after a basket and closed out his run with a nice jumper at the free throw line to help the Wildcats keep a 1-point lead, 42-41. 

Ty Moore (Grenada) got the crowd going with a big dunk off a Brumfield assist. Not to be outdone, Williams drove past Northeast defenders and finished with a thunderous dunk to give the Wildcats a 48-43 lead. After a defensive stop, Brumfield found a gravity-defying Hill for an alley-oop to extend the lead to seven, 50-43. 

Williams went from finisher to distributor, finding a slashing Brumfield with a perfect pass that Brumfield finished with a one-handed slam, giving PRCC a 56-51 lead. On the next PRCC possession, Hill hit a 3-pointer as the shot clock expired. Moore was fouled on the play to give the Wildcats possession. Williams was fouled on the inbound pass and converted both free throws pushing the lead to eight, 61-53.

Following a Northeast timeout, Williams muscled past a defender and finished big with a two-handed dunk. Hill followed suit on the next possession with a two-handed dunk after flashing past his defender to give the Wildcats a 65-55 lead. 

Moore closed out the dunk fest with a two-handed dunk in front of a rowdy Wildcat student section.

On the last possession the Wildcats dribbled out the clock to secure a 76-68 win. 

STATISTICALLY SPEAKING

Hill eclipsed his season high by one point, scoring 28 points, seven rebounds, three assists and one steal. 

“He went through those freshman moments recently,” Oney said of Hill. “I benched him shortly after the Co-Lin game so he could see the speed of the game. He didn’t waver; he is actually playing better. I am happy he is having this kind of moment.”

Brumfield added 17 points, five assists and one steal and Williams had 15 points, nine rebounds, two assists, and one block. 

 

NEXT UP

The Wildcats will be on the road next Thursday when they travel to Clarksdale to play Coahoma for the final regular season game. Tipoff inside the Pinnac is 6:00 PM and will be livestreamed at coahomasports.com/watch. 

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