VANCLEAVE — Visiting Poplarville came up with a pair of big Region 8-4A wins on the road Tuesday night.

 

The Lady Hornets came up with their first league win of the year, with a 46-15 thrashing of the Lady Bulldogs. The Poplarville girls are 1-2 in district play.

 

The Poplarville boys came away with a 65-53 win over the Bulldogs. Rojae Raine tallied a game high 28 points to pace Poplarville, while Anthony Martin chipped in 12 points to the winning effort.

 

Both Poplarville teams host Moss Point in region play Friday night. The Tigers, led by prep All-American Devin Booker, are unbeaten in league play at 3-0. Booker is the lone Mississippi nominee for the McDonald’s All-American basketball game, which takes place April 2 in Chicago. Booker, a Kentucky signee, is averaging 31.3 points per game for the Tigers this season. The 6-foot-5 shooting guard played in the Under Armour Elite 24 game in New York last summer.

 

Booker has 2,008 points for his career, surpassing the 2,000-point mark during the Tigers’ 69-57 victory at St. Stanislaus last Friday. He is 244 points from besting the Moss Point school record of 2,251 set by David Booker (no relation), the 2006 Mississippi Gatorade Player of the Year. Booker fired in 34 points in a win Tuesday night over Bay High.

 

The last McDonald’s All-American from Mississippi was Kemper County’s Devonta Pollard, who was selected for the game in 2012 but did not play due to injury. Past McDonald’s All-Americans from Mississippi include Gulfport’s Chris Jackson (1988), Murrah’s Othella Harrington (1992), Picayune’s Jonathan Bender (1999), Murrah’s Mo Williams (2001) and Lanier’s Monta Ellis (2005).

 

In other local action Tuesday night, Stone County beat Picayune 50-48 in boys play and 32-28 in girls action. Columbia beat Pearl River Central 54-41 in boys play and 41-33w in girls action. A full report on thoswe games will appear in Friday’s issue of the Item.