The turkey should taste a little bit better for Austin Alexander this week.

Alexander, in his third year at the helm of the Pearl River Central boy’s team, saw his Blue Devils spank visiting Poplarville 73-40 Friday night. The win improved PRC to 3-2 on the season, as the Blue Devils enter a two week break for Thanksgiving.

“This is the first time since I have been here that we will go into the break with a winning record, so it feels pretty good,” Alexander said. “I feel like we have played well enough to win almost every game we have played. So that’s encouraging.”

The Blue Devils took the lead early and never trailed, but the Hornets battled through most of the first three quarters.

Poplarville dropped to 1-4 with the  loss.

PRC leading scorer Ashton Woodson tallied seven points in the first period, and Blue Devil point guard Dennan Seal sank a pair of free throws with 12 seconds left as PRC took a 15-9 lead after the first period.

Sonny Garcia’s 3-pointer at the 6:06 mark of the second stanza made it 22-11 PRC, but the Hornets fought back as Jalen Raine and Jermany Woods combined for 13 points in the final six minutes before halftime and Poplarville cut the deficit to 28-26 at intermission.

A 12-2 run to start the third frame by the Blue Devils included two baskets by Woodson and gave PRC a  40-28 lead, and the Hornets never cut the deficit to single digits again.

Woodson scored a game high 26 to pace PRC, while Garcia added 19 and Seal nine.

Raine led the Hornets with 17 and Woods added nine. Poplarville hampered its chances of winning by going 17-of-46 from the free throw line.

Poplarville managed a split on the night, as the Lady Hornets  remained unbeaten by smashing the Lady Devils 58-24.

The Lady Hornets are 5-0, while the PRC girls dropped to 2-4.

Poplarville never trailed, and jumped out to a quick lead and led 18-5 after the opening quarter as Jeronda Beason scored six points for the visitors.

Kendra Hall tallied nine points in the second stanza for the Lady Hornets, as they took a commanding 34-13 lead into halftime.

Just in case PRC had any thoughts of a comeback, Beason scored nine points in the third frame including a pair of 3-pointers to seal the deal.

Beason paced Poplarville with 16 points, while Sam Henry added 14 and Hall 11 to the winning cause.

The Lady Hornets are off for two weeks as well, and have registered their perfect start without starter Bretta Hart, who is expected to return when Poplarville returns to the court on Dec. 3.

Sabrina Miller scored five points for PRC in the fourth quarter.