All-around effort leads Pearl River men past Holmes
Dylan Dunaway - PRCC Sports Information Director
GOODMAN, Miss. — An incredibly well-rounded effort for the Pearl River men's basketball team resulted in a 27-point, 71-44 victory over Holmes Monday night.
The 44 points that the Wildcat defense held the Bulldogs to were their lowest total of the 2022-23 campaign.
"For the last two weeks, I feel like we've followed the scouting report to a T," Pearl River coach Chris Oney said. "Not only that, but we did it with the intensity that it requires to stop a team from scoring. Holmes can light the scoreboard up, so holding them to what we did was an excellent job."
GAME RECAP
The Wildcats (14-6; 6-4) came out of the gate on fire with a 10-2 run. The hot start was highlighted by Cam Brown(Hattiesburg) catching an inbound pass at the top of the arc and slashing home a 3-pointer.
Pearl River stretched its lead to 18-8 after a 2-for-2 trip to the free-throw line by Carlous Williams (Hattiesburg; Harrison Central). Ty Moore (Grenada) picked up a big basket soon after as he drove inside, evaded a defender and laid it off the glass and in for a 24-10 lead.
PRCC grabbed a 14-point, 30-16 lead late in the quarter after a smooth connection from Brown and Jermahri Hill(Bessemer, Ala.; Berkmar). Brown snatched an offensive rebound and started to dribble the ball back to the top of the key. Out of the corner of his eye, he spotted Hill and hit him with a perfect no-look pass. Hill caught the dish in the corner and hit nothing but net on his 3-pointer.
The last basket of the first half of play came courtesy of the Wildcats and made the score 38-22. Hill's jumper didn't fall, but Moore sprinted in and in one motion, the 6-foot-8 forward grabbed the rebound and slammed it home, bringing the Wildcat bench to its feet in the process.
PRCC kept the momentum going to begin the second half, snatching the first basket off an incredible play by Dylan Brumfield (Oak Grove). The sophomore guard drove inside the lane, fought through some very heavy contact and lobbed a ball up in the air that rattled around the rim and fell in for a basket. The score made it a 40-22 game.
Ty Moore gets set to attempt a shot
Over the course of the next few minutes, Holmes (11-8; 3-6) and Pearl River nearly matched each other with every basket and eventually sat at a 58-33 score line. Brown added another 3-pointer on the next PRCC possession as he caught a pass on the left wing from Brumfield and slashed it home.
PRCC added a few more points down the stretch and took home a 71-44 road victory over the Bulldogs.
STATISTICALLY SPEAKING
The Wildcats finished the night with five guys in double figures, led by an 18-point night on 7-for-11 shooting for Brown. Williams narrowly tailed him with 16 points. Hill added 13 points and Brumfield and Ayub Nurhussein (Hamilton, Ontario.; Toronto Basketball Academy) each collected 10.
"When we play defense like we've been playing, it translates over to the offensive side," Oney said. "You've started to see multiple guys get involved on offense. I think we've been trending in the right direction over the last quarter of the regular season."
The rebounding effort was led by Nurhussein and Moore who finished with seven and six, respectively.
NEXT UP
The Wildcats return home Thursday for an important matchup against rival Jones College. Tipoff inside Marvin R. White Coliseum is set for 6 p.m.
"Jones is playing really good basketball. They've got some older guys that have been through it, so I don't think they'll come to our gym intimidated," Oney said. "They'll be excited to play. I know that we are really close with them in the standings, so I think it'll be an exciting game to coach and I know my guys will be excited to play."
CASHLESS BOX OFFICE
To help improve traffic flow and fan experience, PRCC athletics box offices will be cashless in 2022-23. Only credit and debit cards will be accepted at the box office. Fans are encouraged to beat the lines and purchase their tickets in advance at PRCCAthletics.com/Tickets.
TUNE IN
Pearl River livestreams all home games for free at PRCCMedia.com/gold. Fans who have 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 Twitter (@PRCCAthletics) and Facebook (PRCCAthletics).
