Undefeated Pearl River smacks Wolfpack 72-62

BAY ST. LOUIS The nationally-ranked Pearl River Wildcats perfect record remained intact here Sunday after taking a convincing 72-62 home basketball victory over Loyola University (La.) junior varsity Wolfpack at St. Stanislaus College. PRCC men, ranked No. 11 in the NJCAA latest Division I poll, improved to 7-0 with the win. Sunday win marked a 2010-2011 sweep by the Wildcats over Loyola, as PRCC defeated the Wolfpack 67-62 in a previous meeting played Nov. 10 in New Orleans. The contest was originally scheduled for Shivers Gymnasium on the PRCC campus in Poplarville, but was moved to Bay St. Louis at the urging of SSC officials. They (SSC) wanted to host one of our games and this was an ideal choice, said 20th-year Wildcat boss Richard Mathis. It was a shorter road trip for the Loyola folks and with it being a Sunday afternoon game, I dont believe we wouldve drawn that big of a crowd in Poplarville…it wouldnt have been a dent in out pocketbook. Pearl River led 56-49 at the intermission and put together an impressive 11-0 run late in the second half to build its lead to nine 58-49 with four minutes remaining. The Wolfpack answered with a 7-0 scoring run to cut the Wildcats lead to 58-56 before knotting things up at 60-60 off a pair of foul shots by Manuel Gandara with 2:08 left. PRCC stayed at the foul line during the remaining time, hitting 11 of 12 attempts to pump its lead to 70-62 before center Kentari Nettles of Mobile, Ala., ended the scoring with a slam dunk to pump the Wildcats lead to 10 in the final seconds. Robert Lavaglio paced the Wolfpack with a game-high 20 points, while Jamal Silas added 13, Chris Joseph, Jr., 11; Sean Apetrei seven, Dylan Kremer five, and Damir Durmo, Gandara, and Emmanuel Hill, two a piece. Nettles, who prepped at LeFlore High in Mobile, led the Wildcats with 18 points and five rebounds, while Troy State signee Emil Jones of North Forrest High was close behind with 18, including an four-for-six effort from three-point range. Daron Bell of Bay High added 14 (two treys), Phillip Crawford out of Murphy High in Mobile 10, Marshun McGee out of Bailey High in Jackson six, Calvin Johnson of Ridgeland High five, and LaKendrick Maye of Prentiss High two. Loyola hit 59.5 percent (22 of 37) from the field to Pearl River 57.8 percent (26 of 45), while the Wolfpack was five of 13 (38.5 percent) from three-point range to the Wildcats six-of-16 (37.5 percent) effort. At the foul line, Loyola hit 85.7 percent (13 of 15), while PRCC hit 70 percent (14 of 20). Pearl River women and men squads return to action Tuesday when Baton Rouge CC (La.) visits Shivers Gymnasium in Poplarville for 5 p.m. (women) and 7 p.m. (men) contests before hosting rival Copiah-Lincoln to open their MACJC South Division schedules Monday, Dec. 6, at the same game times. Delgado (La.) visits Thursday, Dec. 9 (same game times), to wrap up the pre-Christmas holiday portion of PRCC schedule.

Each community college president is asked to bring two (2) wrapped door prizes, minimum value of $50 each. We will have a station set up at the conference for you to drop off the door prizes.

Each community college is asked to provide name tags for their Board members, administration, and staff attending the conference.