The Picayune is the sole survivor in the “Southern Six” in Class 5A boys’ play after Saturday night.
The Maroon Tide mauled visiting South Jones Saturday night at Kelly Wise gym 66-20 in the second round of the Class 5A state playoffs. The win moves Picayune into the quarterfinal round just up the road to Poplarville at Pearl River Community College where the Maroon Tide will face yet another Jones County school taking on the West Jones Mustangs at 8:30 Friday night in Marvin R. White Gymnasium
Picayune jumped out to a quick 16-4 lead over the Braves at the end of the first quarter thanks to an 8-0 run to end the period and basically never looked back turning that advantage into a commanding 53-13 lead at halftime in a span that included a 20-0 run in the second stanza. The Maroon Tide out-scored SJHS 37-9 in the second period put the game away before intermission.
Standout guard Josh Holmes tallied a game-high 15 points for Picayune, all coming in the first half including a trio of 3-pointers. Troy Carter added 13 points and Darrell Smith chipped in 11 points for Picayune in the win as the Maroon Tide moved to 17-14 overall on the season.
The Braves were coming off an impressive 59-52 road win over home-standing Gautier Tuesday night.
While Picayune stayed alive, a pair of other Class 5A boys’ squads in the “Southern Six” saw their respective seasons come to an end Saturday night.
Visiting Florence overcame a double-digit deficit several times in Lucedale to upset home-standing George County 49-46 at Sellers gym. The Rebels end their season in disappointing fashion with a 14-6 overall mark.
The Rebels jumped out to a 19-4 lead after the opening period and went on to lead by as much as 17 in the second stanza before the Eagles began to bounce back.
Florence ended up out-scoring GCHS 14-5 in the frame and in the process cut that 24-7 deficit early in the period into just a 24-19 disadvantage at halftime.
The Rebels seemed to right the ship a bit as the third frame unfolded, and managed to extend their lead back to double digits at 35-25 at one point and wound up with a nine-point advantage at 38-29, to begin the fourth frame.
But Florence used a large disparity from the free-throw stripe to wrestle the lead away from GCHS in the fourth quarter and pull out the three-point win. The Eagles converted 24-of-40 attempts from the charity stripe, while the Rebels really hurt themselves by making only eight of 25 attempts.
Cameron Lee led Florence with a game-high 22 points in the win, while Carter Mullins added 12 points for the Eagles who are coached by forme University of Southern Mississippi standout Darrin Chancellor.
George County got 15 points and six rebounds from Marlin Odom in the season-ending loss, while Deuce Knight, who was named the Most Valuable Player in region 8-6A during the regular season, was limited to just seven points by FHS but he did add 10 rebounds and five blocks to the effort by the Rebels.
Florence will face Hattiesburg Friday night in the Class 6A South State quarterfinals at PRCC in the game before the Picayune-West Jones match-up.
And speaking of Hattiesburg, the Tigers thumped visiting West Harrison Saturday night 72-42 to end the season for the Hurricanes and advance on to Friday’s meeting with Florence.
