FULTON, Miss. — The Pearl River men’s basketball team turned in one of its most dominant performances of the season Thursday night at Itawamba, routing the Indians 81-54.
“I thought that we picked up where we left off defensively from last semester,” Pearl River coach Chris Oney said. “It was a step forward offensively. I think guys have started to figure out the way that they need to play for us in order for us to be successful.”
SCORING IN BUNCHES
Pearl River (8-2 overall; 3-0 MACCC) was crashing the offensive boards and making it count in the early stages of the contest, grabbing four offensive rebounds and scoring after each of them to build out an 11-4 lead.
Immediately after, Earl Smith, Jr. (Jackson; Lanier) drained a 3-pointer from the corner to force an Itawamba (7-3; 1-2) timeout.
After the timeout, Carlous Williams (Hattiesburg; Harrison Central) entered the game and slotted home an 18-foot jumper and a 3-pointer from the top of the arc to make the score 19-4.
The Indians got a quick bucket, but then the rout was on for the Wildcats.
PRCC built out a massive 32-9 lead, aided by 3-pointers from Cameron Brown (Hattiesburg) and Smith as well as an old-fashioned 3-pointer from Dylan Brumfield (Hattiesburg; Oak Grove).
The Wildcats continued to pour it on, eventually entering the break ahead 44-18.
The second half of play started the same exact way that the first did as Ankerion Gross (Sardis; North Panola) knocked down a long jumper and a 3-pointer to make the score 49-18.
Pearl River continued to score with ease building out a lopsided 34-point lead by a score of 63-29.
The Wildcats continued to knock down shots from beyond the arc and fight for baskets in the paint, giving themselves a lopsided 81-54 victory over the Indians.
CONTROLLING THE BOARDS
Pearl River had an incredible performance rebounding the ball in the contest, hauling in 34 rebounds compared to Itawamba’s 20.
Not only did the Wildcats control the rebounding, but they also dominated the offensive boards. It was not until the 13-minute mark in the second half that the Indians hauled in their first offensive rebound of the night.
“I think that we have rebounded well all year,” Oney said. “It has just been our turnovers that have prohibited us from having a chance to play five on five. Tonight, I thought that we played a lot of five on five since we didn’t turn the ball over as much. We were able to make them take bad shots and get the rebounds.”
STATISTICALLY SPEAKING
Brown led all scorers with 19 points. Jair Currie (Albany, N.Y.; St. Thomas More) was the only other Wildcat to score in double figures with 10 points. Williams chipped in nine points off the bench.
Brumfield led the way in rebounding, hauling in nine boards. Jariyon Wilkens (Biloxi) and Jaronn Wilkens (Biloxi) were second and third with six and five, respectively.
UP NEXT
The Wildcats return to action Monday as Meridian comes to Marvin R. White Coliseum for a 6 p.m. tipoff.
TICKETS
Season and single-game tickets are available now and can be purchased at PRCCAthletics.com/tickets.
TUNE IN
All home Pearl River basketball games are livestreamed for free at PRCCMedia.com/gold. Fans who have Roku, Amazon Fire or Apple TV devices can also watch the Wildcat broadcasts by downloading the “Pearl River CC” channel from their app stores.
Games can also be heard on WRJW 1320-AM, 106.9 FM and WRJWRadio.com
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