Picayune’s Donovan Rice and his Maroon Tide teammates will face league-leading West Harrison on the road tonight in Region 7-5A action. Picayune is the only team so far this season to beat the Hurricanes. Both teams are coming off wins over the weekend.
Photo by Curtis Rockwell

Even though the events are actually over a month away, the respective district tournaments will be on the minds of all the local prep basketball teams this week.

Both Picayune teams play a pair of league games this week, including traveling to league-leader West Harrison tonight. West Harrison will be the site of next months Region 7-5A Tournament.

Meanwhile, both Pearl River Central and Poplarville will each play one district game this week and both schools will step outside of league play for a contest as well.

The Blue Devils and Lady Devils both travel to Long Beach tonight. Long Beach is a member of Region 7-5A, and both of the LBHS teams head to Picayune for district encounters on Friday night.

Both PRC teams are coming off league losses on the road Friday night at Jackson Wingfield. Wingfield High will be the site of next months Region 5-5A Tournament.

“We just have to keep playing hard and practicing hard,” first year Blue Devils head coach Matt Noblitt said. “We will be playing teams that the kids aren’t familiar with, being in a new district this season. We just need to work on getting better every time we step on the court.”

The Blue Devils fought the homestanding Falcons hard Friday night, before falling 64-54. PRC is 0-2 in league play. Alex Travis had 16 points for the Blue Devils, and Seth McCoy added 14 points.

The Lady Devils are also 0-2 in district play, after dropping a 34-16 decision to Wingfield. Pearl River Central trailed just 17-12 at halftime, before the Lady Falcons pulled away in the second half.

Brandi Lee scored eight for the Lady Devils.

After tonight’s non-district games, both PRC teams return to league play at home Friday hosting Brookhaven.

Also, visiting Moss Point swept a pair of Region 8-4A games from Poplarville on Friday night.

Moss Point’s Devin Booker, one of the top prep roundball recruits in the nation, tallied a game high 31 points as the Tigers knocked off the Hornets 65-44. Booker, a University of Kentucky signee, also had 10 rebounds and six assists.

Anthony Martin scored eight to pace Poplarvile. The Hornets dropped to 2-3 in league play.

The Lady Tigers beat the Lady Hornets 49-32. Shaneisha Hudderson scored 14 for Poplarville, which stands 1-3 in district action.

The Lady Hornets don’t return to action until Saturday, traveling along with the boys to Lumberton High.

The Hornets return to league play tonight, hosting St. Stanislaus. It will be the second straight trio to Pearl River County for the Rockachaws.

Picayune beat St. Stanislaus 59-57 at home Friday night. Shemar Williams tallied a game high 30 points for Picayune, and hit a pair of free throws with just two seconds left to send the game into overtime. Hakeem Magee made the game winning shot with less than three seconds left.