Even though the district foes met twice during the regular season, hesitation fills the gym when everything is on the line during the district tournament, Poplarville’s Head Coach Chareck Cable said.

“It’s all about that one game, and you never know how the other team is going to play. It doesn’t matter how much you know their personnel, anything can happen during the tournament,” he said.

However, after getting a feel for Purvis, the Poplarville Hornets were able to pull off a 58-47 victory.

Coming out of halftime with the score at 24-22, Tamiljah Merrill led a third quarter charge Thursday night that got his team over the hump, outscoring Purvis 18-7.

“The flow of the game is critical this time of year and everything is magnified more,” Cable said. “We set out a goal to win the district, and now we just have to go out and play well against Columbia.”

Merrill finished the game with 18 points while fellow senior Tyler Griffin notched 16.

Poplarville plays Columbia Friday night for the district championship at 8:30 p.m. at Forrest County Agricultural High School.