HATTIESBURG – When Presbyterian Christian and Jackson Academy met on the hardwood earlier this month, PCS coach Josh Dorman said it was one of his team’s poorest efforts of the season.
On Friday night, however, his Bobcats got revenge in tune of a 43-32 conference win over the Raiders. PCS is now 16-7 overall and 5-1 in conference play.
The last game between these teams was so bad for PCS, Dorman memorized his team’s shooting percentages. In that meeting on Jan. 8, PCS shot 32 percent from the field, 15 percent from the 3-point line and 38 percent from the free throw line, according to Dorman.
“I think tonight, the biggest key was we came out with defensive intensity,” Dorman said. “It was going to be a personal thing for us. The guys did a great job.”
The Bobcats started the game with four quick points from 6-foot-6 center Jeremiah Montgomery to open up a 6-2 lead, but Jackson Academy battled back to take a 13-9 lead early in the second quarter. PCS, though, woke up and began a dominating 16-0 run that lasted until the early portion of the third quarter.
“I think we found another gear defensively,” Dorman said. “We got in the open floor a little bit, we got some easy baskets and our pressure turned them over a little bit. When you combine those things, we can be explosive at times.”
During the run, PCS had four players score points, but what was remarkable was each player had back-to-back baskets before another player score to help continue the run. First, it was Senior Jakari Love, then senior Markevion Harrell had a pair of free throws and a 3-pointer, Montgomery added a free throw and a put-back layup, and junior TJ Hogan scored six straight points to close out the first half.
Sophomore Cannon Garner’s layup to start the third quarter was the 16th and final point of the run, and Jackson Academy never could recover.
“We play normally eight (players), sometimes nine, and it comes from a different guy every night,” Dorman said. “A lot of nights it’s a very balanced attack, and that’s a difficult thing to guard because we don’t rely on just one person.”
PCS and the Raiders traded points the remainder of the game, then six straight points by JA at the end of the fourth quarter made the score seem closer than it was.
Montgomery led the Bobcats with 14 points – seven in each half – and Harrell added 13 points to help lead the offense.
“Jeremiah was really tough in the post, and he got us off to a great start by establishing himself in the post,” Dorman said. “Then obviously, our guard play was really good tonight, too.”
Jackson Academy girls 39, PCS 33
Jackson Academy grabbed the quick lead in the first quarter, but it couldn’t pull away from the Lady Bobcats. In fact, neither team made back-to-back baskets until the 3:06 mark of the second quarter, as the teams traded made shots until JA made three straight shots to take a 19-9 lead.
Jackson Academy scored seven straight points to take a 10-point lead after the back-and-forth start, but PCS added five points to close out the first half trailing 19-14.
Even though both teams traded made baskets, the Lady Raiders made two 3-pointers while PCS stuck to layups and free throws. That allowed the visitors to keep at least a three-point lead throughout most of the first 16 minutes of the contest.
In the third quarter, Jackson Academy used a 9-0 run to grab control of the lead, then the Lady Raiders played keep-away with the ball to start the fourth quarter to drain the clock. Trailing by as much as 14 points, the Lady Bobcats cut the JA lead to single digits with less than two minutes to play, but it wasn’t enough.
Gabby Gallup led the Lady Bobcats with 14 points.
The Lady Bobcats are now 11-13 (2-4 in conference play).
