River splits with Co-Lin in division openers

POPLARVILLE Pearl River Community College split with Copiah-Lincoln in its MACJC South Division women and men openers here Monday. PRCC seventh-ranked men team kept its unblemished record intact with a hard-fought 82-72 overtime victory to improve to 9-0 overall and 1-0 in division play, while its women dropped to 2-4 and 0-1 after suffering a 60-43 setback to the 10th-ranked Lady Wolves. CLCC men dropped to 4-5 and 1-1, while its women are now 8-1 and 2-0. In the men game, the first half was a seesaw battle with the score tied nine times and the lead exchanged hands a whopping 11 times. The Wolves held on to a 29-27 edge at the intermission off a last-second put back by T.J. Kosile. Marcus Hooten kicked off the second-half scoring with one of his four three pointers on the night to pump Co-Lin lead to five, then added another trey a minute-and-a-half later to give the Wolves a 37-31 lead with 17:08 left. Phillip Crawford out of Murphy High in Mobile, Ala., hit a pair of foul shots with 6:46 left to put the Wildcats up 49-48, then Daron Bell of Bay High intercepted a pass on CLCC ensuing possession, fed the ball to Troy State signee Emil Jones of North Forrest High who sped the distance to pull off a three-point play to pump PRCC lead to four. Two minutes later, Bell hit a trey to make it 57-50 PRCC way, but Hooten immediately answered with back-to-back three pointers before Earnest Wafer basket put the Wolves back into the lead at 58-57. Pearl River regained the lead in the final minute off a bucket by Kentari Nettles out of LeFlore High in Mobile and a free throw by Jones, but Kosile sank a bucket at the buzzer to tie it up at 62-62 and send things into overtime. The Wildcats outscored the Wolves 20-10 in the OT period with Jones accounting for 11 of those points. Hooten led Co-Lin with 26 points (four treys, six rebounds), including a six-for-six effort at the foul line; while Wafer added 16 (10 rebounds, six assists, three steals), Antonio Holmes 13, Kosile nine, and Jamaal McCoy (five rebounds) and Maurice Williams, four each. Jones paced The River with 31 points and 18 rebounds both career-high marks while Nettles added 14, Crawford 13 (seven rebounds), Bell 10 (five assists), Vincent Gable of Picayune High and Marshun McGee out of Bailey High in Jackson, four each; and Pedro Maciel, a Centenary University transfer who prepped at St. Stanislaus, Nick Magee of East Marion High, and LaKendrick Maye of Prentiss High, two a piece. Pearl River hit 42.6 percent (26 of 61) from the field to Co-Lin 40.6 percent (26 of 64), while the Wildcats were two of 15 (13.3 percent) from three-point range to the Wolves four-of-11 (36.4 percent) effort. PRCC was 28 of 42 (66.7 percent) at the foul line, while CLCC was an impressive 16 of 19 (84.2 percent). The River led the rebounding battle with 44 (16 offensive, 28 defensive) boards to Copiah-Lincoln 38 (11 offensive, 27 defensive). In the women game, Co-Lin outscored Pearl River 34-21 in the first half and built its lead to as many as 22 point in the second half. Brandi Simmons paced the Lady Wolves with 11 points (seven rebounds, four assists), while Paige Webster added 10, Keosha Bradley and Kiare Etienne, nine each; Jaquandria Williams eight (six rounds, four steals), Sedreka Plummer seven, and Ann Shelby Davis and Kristin Newsome, three each. Kenyatta Epps of Yazoo City High led the Lady Wildcats with 13 points (three treys), while Toy Johnson of Pascagoula High scored eight, Nicole Holder of Lumberton High four, Francheska Bowman out of Choctaw High in Fort Walton Beach, Fla., Alayna Bridges of Oak Grove High (five rebounds), and Quentessa Bullock of East Marion High (six rebounds), three a piece; Eugena Fry out of Wingfield High in Jackson, Charlene Green out of South Pike High in Magnolia, Branita Malone (five rebounds), another Choctaw High (Fla.) recruit, and Francheska McMahon out of Lewisburg High in Hernando, two a piece. Pearl River hit 29.6 percent (16 of 54) from the field to Co-Lin 44.4 percent (24 of 54), while the Lady Wildcats were three of nine (33.3 percent) from three-point range to the Lady Wolves three-of-10 (30 percent) effort. PRCC was nine of 15 (53.3 percent) at the foul line, while CLCC was nine of 13 (69.2 percent). The River closes out the pre-Christmas holiday portion of its schedule this Thursday when Delgado (La.) visits for women (5 p.m.) and men (7 p.m.) contests. PRCC and Copiah-Lincoln eye MACJC South Division rematches Monday, Jan. 31, in Wesson with game times at 6 p.m. (women) and 8 p.m. (men).