OCEAN SPRINGS — The Pascagoula Panthers used a furious 18-0 run in the second half to fuel a 61-48 victory over the Ocean Springs Greyhounds Thursday night for their first boys basketball victory of the season.
The ‘Goula girls made it a clean sweep on the evening by tipping the action off for the night with a 37-13 win over the OSHS girls.
In the boys game, the Panthers, 1-1, were down 39-37 with about 2 minutes left in the third quarter, and when the dust settled with just over 4 minutes left in the game, they were on top 55-39.
Kelen Rich had the hot hand in the streak with 10 points, including a pair of 3-pointers.
Pascagoula head coach Lorenzo Wright said the key to the game was being able to get into a zone defense once the Panthers had the lead.
“The zone was really good for us,” Wright, who is in his 8th year as coach, said. “We weren’t able to guard them man to man. They came out on fire and got hot.
“It was a hostile environment, especially that first half. We were lucky to be up by 2 (at halftime). I didn’t think we played well (the first half), but they shot it well. We did a better job in the second half of slowing (Maddox) Noblitt down. Got the lead and got to the zone.”
Ocean Springs, 2-2, came out smoking in the first quarter, led by explosive guard Noblitt, who scored 12 of his game-high 22 points in the period, including a crowd-erupting dunk, the only one in the game.
The Greyhound’s biggest lead was at 18-12 early in the second quarter. Pascagoula slowly clawed back to take a 2-point halftime lead at 28-26, Then the Panthers switched to the zone and were able to stifle the Greyhounds outside shooting. “They got in a zone and kinda slowed us down a little bit and got us out of our rhythm,” said Ocean Springs first-year head coach Colin Goley. “They are very athletic. We were doing a real good job, getting in the gaps, making the extra pass, and got some 3s. They got in a zone and put us out of rhythm. We started figuring it out towards the end of the game but it was too late.”
Dorian McMillian led four Panthers in double figures with 16 points. Chris North added 15, Rich 13, and Markuese Grady 12. The only other Greyhound in double digits was Kalen Bradley with 10 points.
In the girls game, the Lady Panthers completely dominated from the outset and led 19-6 at halftime. Their biggest lead was 28-6 in the third quarter. OS had plenty of opportunities to score, but their shots wouldn’t go down.
Massyah Thomas topped the Lady Panthers with 10 points. Taylor Fairley scored 8 to lead the Lady Greyhounds.
