Saturday January 6, 2024: Men's Basketball

Poplarville, MS

This afternoon was the 23 meeting between the Baton Rouge Bears and the Pearl River Wildcats. The game was a similar style of game to the first meeting of the season on November 13, 2023, in Baton Rouge, between these two teams. Like their first meeting of the season, the game would come down to the wire. The Pearl River Wildcats would take the lead late to come out with the 68 to 62 victory, this afternoon in the Marvin R. White Coliseum.

In the first half, the Bears would jump out to an early 16 to 6 leads with 12:12 remaining in the half. The Bears early run was lead by a pair of three pointers by Laron Louis Jr.,  4 points by Jarrell Love and Kialen Philips and a bucket by Courtney McCarthy. The Bears' offense would fall into a bit of a slump for the next four minutes as the Wildcats would go on an 8-2 run to pull within two points with 8:01 remaining. For the rest of the half, both teams would trade buckets with the Bears holding a slim lead until the final 1:30 to play. At the 1:30 mark, the Wildcats would take their first lead of the game, 29-27. The Bear's Jack King would complete a three-point play to help the Bears take a 30 to 29 lead over the Wildcats with 57 seconds remaining. Pearl River would score the final four points to take a slim 33 to 30 advantage, into the half.

The second half was like the first half with both teams trading the lead. The second half saw 5 ties and 8 lead changes. Baton Rouge would regain the lead with a three pointer by Dashaunte Cormier-Bellard, 42-41 with 14:44 remaining. Pearl River would quickly take back the lead with a three pointer of their own, 44-42. The Bears would tie the ball game with a bucket by Jaylen Streeter with 13:44 remaining. The game would go back in forth for the next 10 minutes with neither team holding larger than a four-point lead. With 4:42 remaining the game would be tied at 58. Over the next two minutes the game would be tied two more times. Bears Courtney McCarthy would hit a bucket to the tie game at 62 with 1:53 remaining. Pearl River would score the final 6 points of the game to seal the 68 to 62 victory. The Bears struggled to convert, in the last two minutes. The Wildcats forced the Bears into two keys turnovers, in that time span,  that they transitioned to five points to eventually seal the victory.

Pearl River was led in scoring by Ta'Zir Smith with a game high 24 points. Baton Rouge was led in scoring by Courtney McCarthy with 13 points, off the bench.

With the loss the Bears fell to 7-9, while the Wildcats improved to 10-2 on the season. Pearl River leads the overall series record with 22 wins and 1 loss over Baton Rouge.

Bears Highlights

Courtney McCarthy led the team with 13 points off the Bench.

Laron Louis Jr added 11 points.

Kialen Phillips, Jarrell Love and Dashaunte Cormier-Bellard each had 8 points.

The Bears will be back in action on Monday January 8, 2024, as they travel to Ellisville, Mississippi to take on the Jones College Bobcats at 6 pm.

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