HATTIESBURG – In the beginning of the third quarter, as the Hattiesburg Tigers led the Pearl River Central Blue Devils 42-38, Hattiesburg coach Ernie Watson earned double technicals and was ejected from the contest.
PRC’s A.J. Banks made all four free throws to tie the game, and it propelled the Blue Devils to take the lead and hold on for a crucial 79-70 win over Hattiesburg to keep the seedings for the Region 7-5A Tournament undetermined.
Watson had some strong words about the early exit after the game, too.
“It was cheap on all ends and he was in his feelings,” he said. “It doesn’t make sense to call a game like that – a division rivalry game – and you’re in your feelings. He took it personal.”
PHOTO GALLERY: Click for photos from Matt Bush from the Tigers’ loss to PRC
After the ejection, Hattiesburg and PRC had seven ties before the Blue Devils took the lead for good, 63-61. The Tigers had chances to tie or take the lead late in the game, but turnovers and PRC’s free throw shooting ended any hope of a comeback.
“It took the whole thing out of it,” Watson said. “Deflated the whole team and everything because he wants to get involved.”
Led by junior Willie Reece and Banks, PRC made all 10 of its free throws down the stretch to hold off the Tigers. Banks finished the night with 36 points while Reece chipped in 16.
“They didn’t handle adversity,” Watson said of the stretch run. “Adverse situations, I told them they’re supposed to be able to handle it, they’re supposed to rise up – get mad, get upset and rise up. They didn’t do a very good job, so that’s on me. I’ll take this one and we’ll bounce back in the tournament.”
The seeding for the region tournament later this month, which will be held at Hattiesburg, is still undecided. While Hattiesburg is locked in at 4-2 in the region, PRC (3-2) has one region left against North Pike. If it wins, Hattiesburg, PRC and Picayune will be in a three-way tie for first place at 4-2. The Tigers hold the tiebreaker over Picayune, though, if it comes down to a head-to-head tiebreaker if PRC loses to North Pike.
“It’s nothing,” Watson said when asked how tough the loss was to shallow. “We’ll get a second chance in the tournament. Now, if that would have happened in the tournament, I would be a little more upset.”
PRC’s Reece nailed a 3-pointer to begin the game, but the Tigers would answer with a 13-0 run with four different players getting in on the action. The Blue Devils, however, wouldn’t go down quietly, as they put together a 9-0 run immediately after Hattiesburg’s run to cut the lead to 13-12, Hattiesburg. The teams would go back and forth for the rest of the opening quarter while Hattiesburg took a 24-20 lead into the second.
The second quarter featured more back and forth action, and neither team could string together more than four points at a time. Hattiesburg did push the lead to 37-31 thanks to an old fashion 3-point play by sophomore Chris Lewis, but the Blue Devils pulled within one point late in the quarter.
Hattiesburg and PRC would go into the break with the Tigers leading 40-36, as nine different players scored for Hattiesburg through the first 16 minutes of the contest.
Hattiesburg senior Matias Pruitt had a team-high 19 points.
Hattiesburg girls 47, PRC 40: With the No. 1 seed in the region tournament already locked up, Friday night’s contest with the Pearl River Central Lady Blue Devils only counted toward the Hattiesburg Lady Tigers’ record. The result wouldn’t have any negative repercussion.
PHOTO GALLERY: Click for photos from Matt Bush from the Lady Tigers’ win
The Lady Tigers fell behind early, but once they captured the 9-8 lead, they never relinquished the advantage. Hattiesburg coach Caronica Jackson was worried about her players’ mindset heading into the game, but not because the No. 1 seed was already wrapped up.
“I always worry about where my team’s head is at,” Jackson said with a laugh. “Regardless of who we’re playing, that’s always a constant. Which team is going to show up?”
The Lady Blue Devils came out firing early, hitting a pair of 3-pointers and a jumper to take an early 8-4 lead. The Lady Tigers would score the next 11 of 14 points to grab a 15-11 advantage, but PRC’s Payton Lee nit a jumper at the buzzer to cut it to a 2-point game after one.
All five of PRC’s made shots came from the outside, hitting three 3-pointers and a couple of long 2-point shots. In fact, the Lady Blue Devils didn’t score from inside the paint until 4:23 mark of the second quarter, but it was a 17-17 game at that point.
Hattiesburg would go on to outscore PRC 8-3 to close out the half with a 25-20 lead.
In the third quarter, Hattiesburg maintained the lead, pushing it to a 7-point advantage at one point while PRC got the game to within three points. The two went to the fourth quarter with Hattiesburg leading 38-32.
PRC stayed close in the final frame, cutting the Lady Tigers’ lead to 38-34 and 41-38 at moments, but Hattiesburg scored five quick points to extend the lead back out to 45-38. Hattiesburg three leading scorers, junior Ty Vance, sophomore Melyia Grayson and junior Kenedi Walker powered the quick run to keep the Lady Blue Devils out of reach of tying the game.
Senior Terralyn Ulmer finished off the Lady Blue Devils with a pair of free throws to make it a 47-39 game with less than a minute to go. She finished with six points.
Grayson led the way with 14 points, Walker had 13 and Vance added 10 points to help pace the Hattiesburg offense.
“One of our strengths is that we’re a balanced team,” Jackson said. “We always have at least three girls who can get to double figures, and that’s the one thing we’ve talked about with Ty Vance with (sophomore) Chelsea (Ulmer) being out. She was going to have to step up and give us a little offense. It was a good thing that she stepped up and scored a little bit more tonight.”
