By CURTIS ROCKWELL

Item Sports Editor

CARRIERE — St. Martin roughed up Poplarville in the season opener for the Hornets Tuesday afternoon.

The Yellow Jackets took control early in the second quarter and cruised to an 80-47 win in second day play at the Pearl River Central Tip-Off Tournament.

“It was not a good start,” second year Poplarville head coach Kwame Smith said. “Our fundamentals killed us. We just weren’t sharp at all.”

The Hornets overcame an early 6-0 deficit to hang around for a while, trailing just 15-12 after the first quarter.

But St. Martin began to stretch their lead, thanks to an 18-6 run at one point, and took a 26-12 lead mid-way through the second stanza.

The Hornets hurt themselves with unforced turnovers, and St. Martin began to distance itself from Poplarville.

“We gave up too many second chance shots, we missed about 20 lay-ups and we didn’t pass the ball well,” Smith continued. “We were in the game early, and then with all the mistakes it just started to get away from us.”

St. Martin led boys as much as 40 in the final minutes before both teams emptied their benches. David Gilmore scored 13 to pace Poplarville while Jonathan Pittman added 11.

Jyrus Carriere tallied a game high 32 and had 20 rebounds to lead the Yellow Jackets.

In the final game of the night. the host PRC Blue Devils stood to to toe with perennial power St. Stanislaus before coming up short losing 44-39. PRC is now 1-2 on the year.

Jordan Fairconetue had 17 for PRC and Andre Bridgewater added 8. Johnny Zuppardo had a.game high 23 for SSC.

Both Picayune teams play today in the event, as the Lady Tide meets Moss Point at 4:30 and the Tide face Bay High at 6.