MOORHEAD, Miss. – The Pearl River men's basketball team needed a total team effort in an important bounce-back road game at Mississippi Delta on Monday. 

Heading into the game with ten players, the Wildcats relied on twelve points from the bench to overcome an early injury to defeat the Trojans 73-68. 

"We had to make some adjustments early when Mason went out; we needed some other guys to step up," Pearl River head coach Chris Oney said. "I thought that the guys who have been mainstays, Joah, Krystian, Dylan and Kedrick, they showed the guys they appreciate them, being ready to play, stepping up, and helping us get this win."

Pearl River (22-5 overall; 11-2 MACCC) and Mississippi Delta (12-14; 4-8 MACCC) traded blows early in the contest, with neither team pulling away. Joah Chappelle (Atlanta, Ga.; Dutchtown) opened the scoring for the Wildcats with a heavily contested jumper from the top of the key to give the lead, 2-0. Three-pointers from Dylan Sanders (Aurora, Colo.) and Kedrick Osby (Moss Point) helped Pearl River maintain a slim lead over the Trojans.

The Trojans battled back to take a two-point lead, 14-12, with 12:06 left in the first half, forcing a Pearl River timeout. Coming out of the timeout, Krystian Lewis (Monroe, La.; Wossman) found Issace Grady Jr. (Columbus; New Hope) open under the basket to tie the game at 14-14. Following an Osby block on the defensive end, Grady Jr. hit Osby with a pass near the free throw for an open jumper to give the Wildcats the lead, 16-14. 

With the score tied at 18-18, Cooper Kennedy (Laurel; West Jones) chased down a loose ball, drove the baseline, and hit Chappelle with a nifty pass around a Trojan defender for a big dunk, 20-18. Kennedy followed with a drive and layup off an assist by Zahir Gutierrez (Olive Branch) to push the Wildcat lead to four, 22-18. 

"That was huge; all three (Grady Jr, Kennedy and Sampson) were ready to go," Oney commented on Pearl River's bench play. "I was super proud of Cooper; it has been a while since he has seen playing time. I thought he looked pretty good out there, which was awesome to see." 

The Trojans fought back and took a three-point lead late in the first half, 30-27. Chappelle tied the score heading into halftime with an old-fashioned three-point play. Chappelle was fouled on a layup. He sank the free throw to tie the score heading into the break, 30-30. 

Pearl River jumped out to a quick five-point lead to open the second half off a midrange jumper by Grady Jr. and another basket by Chappelle, who converted a free throw after being fouled on the basket, 35-30. 

Sanders, open in the corner, took a pass from Lewis and exploded down the baseline for a dunk to give the Wildcats a 43-38 lead with 15:55 left in the game. The Trojans scored six points in the paint to tie the game, 49-49. Osby gave the Wildcats the lead coming out of a timeout with a jumper from the short corner, 51-49. Jayden Sampson (Cleveland Central) followed with a nice baseline drive for a basket, 53-51. The Wildcats extended the lead to four after a Sanders steal on the defensive end. Sanders found a breaking Chappelle for a layup, giving Pearl River a 55-51 lead. 

Pearl River built a seven-point lead late in the second half off back-to-back baskets by Osby and Chappelle. Osby scored with an off-balance jumper in the paint, and Chappelle followed with a drive starting at the high post past two defenders for a layup, 63-56.

The Trojans reduced the Wildcats lead to three, 69-66, with 43 seconds left in the game, but late free throws by Lewis and Osby secured a 73-68 Pearl River win. 

LEADING THE WAY
Chappelle bested his 16.6 points per game average with a team-high 25 points. Osby added 17 points and Sanders scored 13.

NEXT UP
The Wildcats return home to Marvin R. White Coliseum for the regular season finale against Northeast on Thursday at 7:30 p.m. 

TUNE IN
All home Pearl River basketball games are livestreamed for free at PRCCMedia.com/Gold. Fans with 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.

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