Wildcat hoops ink Bell

POPLARVILLE – Pearl River Community College”s defending MACJC state championship basketball team will boast Mississippi”s Class 4A “Player of the Year” on its roster this fall.Deron Bell, a 6-foot-2, 180-pound shooting guard out of Bay High School in Bay St. Louis, has signed a grant-in-aid scholarship with head coach Richard Mathis squad for the 2010-2011 season.Bell was instrumental in leading the head coach Kelton Thompson”s Tigers to the MHSAA Class 4A championship this past season and earned “Player of the Year” honors in his school”s classification.He averaged 24 points, 7 rebounds, and 5 assists for Bay High his senior season.Mathis, who sports five state titles at PRCC, will enter his 20th season as the Wildcats” head coach this fall.”Deron is a huge addition to our team,” he said, noting that assistant coach Jason Francis played a huge role in acquiring Bell”s talents for The River. “We expect him to step in and contribute immediately.”Joining Bell on the team will be former St. Stanislaus standout Pedro Maciel, who is transferring to PRCC from Division I Centenary College of Louisiana in Shreveport. Maciel is a 6-foot-1, 185-pound point guard who hails from Sao Palo, Brazil.”Deron and Pedro should prove to be a top notch combo next year in our league,” Mathis said.Maciel averaged 6.4 points, 3 assists, and 1.9 rebounds a game as a freshman for Centenary.