CLARKSDALE, Miss. — It may not have been the Pearl River men's basketball team's best shooting night of the year, but the Wildcats brought their defense with them to Coahoma, winning 60-44. Coahoma's 44 points were the least it had scored in a contest since Feb. 13, 2020, when the Tigers were held to 38 against Itawamba.
"I told the guys that this was a place that I hadn't won at as a coach, and I think they wanted to help me take care of this one," head coach Chris Oney said. "I think our defense traveled tonight. We weren't very good on offense, but we did what we needed to on defense to get the stops and force them into some bad shots.
"I got on my assistants pretty good this weekend about the scouting report because of my lack of success at Coahoma," Oney said. "I told them we wouldn't leave until the scouting report was done the right way. I have to give credit to coach (TyReece) Berry, coach (Landon) Lewis and coach (Blake) Dattilo. We had a good game plan, and our guys followed it."
The first ten minutes of the night weren't exactly going Pearl River's (12-3 overall; 1-0 MACCC) way at Coahoma (10-5; 0-1) as the Wildcats couldn't seem to pull ahead and build a lead. Finally, the Wildcats rattled off 13 straight points to change the momentum.
Kedrick Osby (Moss Point) got the run started by drilling a 3-pointer from the corner, and he eventually capped the swing by using a pump fake to find some space for a fadeaway jumper, 21-12.
The Wildcats tacked on another run a while later, this time of six points. Joah Chappelle (Atlanta, Ga.; Dutchtown) made a trip to the charity stripe count with two free throws, and Krystian Lewis (Monroe, La.; Wossman) followed by weaving down the court through traffic and getting a reverse layup to fall. Jayden Sampson (Cleveland; Cleveland Central) provided the next highlight, breaking away and throwing down one of PRCC's most ferocious dunks of the season, 27-17.
Pearl River entered the second half ahead 30-21 and didn't look back from there.
Osby moved inside for a layup to push PRCC ahead 39-23 a few minutes into the half. Chappelle gave the Wildcats their largest lead of the game at 19 points by driving to the basket and scoring despite being fouled. He converted his follow-up free throw to set the score at 48-29.
The Wildcats went on to win the contest 60-44.
NEXT UP
The Wildcats return to Marvin R. White Coliseum Thursday for a 7:30 p.m. game against East Central.