By Stan Caldwell

PRCC Sports Information

POPLARVILLE – The Pearl River Community College men may have already officially clinched a berth in the MACJC State Basketball Tournament before they took the floor against Mississippi Gulf Coast, but the Wildcats wanted to leave no doubt.

And they did just that, shooting down the Bulldogs 90-73 Monday night at Perkinston.

The victory put PRCC (17-4 overall) in second place in the South Division at 9-4 in division play and put the Wildcats in position to win the division championship Thursday at Copiah-Lincoln.

The Wolves are currently first at 10-3, but Pearl River won the earlier meeting at Poplarville, so a win Thursday gives the Wildcats the South title by a sweep of the season series.

"It was tremendous, because both teams had a lot at stake," said PRCC coach Chris Oney. "For us, it now gives us the chance to fulfill one of our chief goals for the season, which was to win the division title."

Gulf Coast (15-7, 8-5) also clinched a state tournament berth despite the loss, by virtue of Jones County's loss to East Central Monday night.

Sophomore Brandon Cranford (Louisville, Ky.) had a career game, with 29 points, including 9 of 11 from 3-point range.

"We played with tremendous poise and the kids executed the game plan to a T," Oney said. "We felt like we had a mismatch with Brandon out there, and when he started getting hot, the guys did a great job of finding him and getting him the ball."

It was Cranford who rescued the Wildcats early in the second half, after the Bulldogs opened the half with a 10-0 spurt to cut what had been a 16-point lead in the first half down to just one.

Pearl River never trailed, opening the game with a 7-0 run, and Cranford hit four of his treys to give PRCC a 36-20 lead with 7:43 to play in the first half, and the Wildcats led 46-35 at halftime.

With the score 46-45 with 18:18 to play in the game, Cranford stepped up and hit a 3-pointer, and added two more from behind the arc in a decisive 21-7 run that put PRCC up 67-52 with 12:34 to play.

Gulf Coast never came closer than 10 points the rest of the way.

Freshman Eric Thornton Jr. (Jackson) had 13 points, sophomore Cameron Douglas (Columbus) added 11 points and 7 rebounds, and freshman Jonas James III had 11 points and 7 assists.

Tipoff Thursday at Wesson is scheduled for 8 p.m. The MACJC State Tournament begins Monday at Senatobia, home of North Division champion Northwest Mississippi.