POPLARVILLE, Miss. — The Pearl River men's basketball team took care of business against fellow Region 23 foe Southern University-Shreveport Friday night inside Marvin R. White Coliseum, pulling away to earn a 15-point 86-71 victory.
"I was pleased to see us get off to a good start tonight," head coach Chris Oney said. "These before-Thanksgiving games are tough mentally, but we got through it. I'm happy with the amount of points we scored, but obviously, I'm not happy with how many we gave up. They hit some tough shots and took advantage of our zone at times."
Pearl River (5-2 overall) got off to a hot start against Southern-Shreveport (6-3), scoring the game's first 11 points. The early run was jumpstarted by Dylan Sanders (Aurora, Colo.), who caught a pass from Kedrick Osby (Moss Point) and nailed a 3-pointer.
The Jaguars weren't phased by PRCC's early offensive onslaught and battled back to cut the deficit to three points at 15-12.
Pearl River took a 26-20 advantage at the 8:39 mark as Sanders drove in and posterized an opposing Jaguars player. Joah Chappelle (Atlanta, Ga.; Dutchtown) followed it up by catching an inbound pass from Zahir Gutierrez (Olive Branch) and slamming it, 28-20.
Pearl River's advantage grew to 14 points with two minutes left in the first half. Osby snatched a rebound and flicked the ball the length of the floor to Krystian Lewis (Monroe, La.; Wossman) for a basket to make it a 12-point lead, and then Lewis caught a pass on the pick-and-roll and scored to make the score 41-27.
When the first half of play ended, the Wildcats had an 11-point 44-33 lead.
Pearl River's lead grew to 50-37 with 16:50 remaining in the game. Osby crashed inside the paint and somehow managed to get a layup to fall despite being draped with defenders. On the following offensive possession, Chappelle caught an Osby pass and knocked down an easy jumper, 50-37.
The Wildcats used superb ball movement to get on the board at the 9:50 mark, as the ball touched four different player's hands before Gutierrez whipped a pass to Sanders for a 3-pointer, 64-51.
As the second half progressed, the Jaguars did their best not to let the Wildcats pull away, but Pearl River walked away with a 15-point, 86-71 victory.
STATISTICALLY SPEAKING
Sanders exploded for a career-high 25 points. He also hauled in six rebounds, dished out three assists and racked up three steals.
Lewis finished with 19 points, four rebounds and three assists.
Chappelle did some of everything, earning 18 points, seven rebounds, three blocks and two assists.
Osby finished one rebound shy of a double-double, scoring 11 points and hauling in nine rebounds. He also had seven assists and a pair of blocks.
"We need him to be aggressive all the time," Oney said. "He's got a year of experience. I don't need him waiting to attack and be aggressive. I want him to pick his spots a little more. Hopefully, he can see that in film and can be who we need him to be all the time."
NEXT UP
The Wildcats return to action on Dec. 3 as Coastal Alabama North travels to Marvin R. White Coliseum for a 6 p.m. tipoff.
TICKETS
Basketball season tickets are available for $86, granting access to all home regular-season games. Single-game tickets are $8 in advance and $10 on the day of the game. Tickets can be purchased at PRCCAthletics.com/Tickets.
TUNE IN
All home Pearl River basketball games are livestreamed for free at PRCCMedia.com/Gold. Fans with 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 will also be available over the air in Pearl River County by tuning into 1320-AM and 106.9 FM. The radio broadcast is also available at WRJWRadio.com and by downloading the WRJW app.
For the latest on Pearl River Community College athletics, follow us on X (@PRCCAthletics) and Facebook (PRCCAthletics).