Maroon Tide & Lady Tide drowns the Bearcats

by Carey Meitzler

Maroon Tide 74  Long Beach 53

Long Beach came to Picayune's Kelly Wise Memorial Gymnasium

looking to avenge an earlier loss to the Maroon Tide and pull even

in the division 8-4A standings, but Picayune had other thoughts and

thumped the visiting Bearcats 74-53.

 Picayune's Chazz Hawkins got the Tide off to a good start with two

long range 3 pointers, but the Bearcats clawed their way back to

lead 10-9.  Randy "Rooster" Perkins dropped in one of two free

throws with :15 left to tie the game 10-10 after one quarter.

Picayune began to pull away in the second stanza and built a 28-18

lead with 2:24 left on a layup by Clydell Jones on an assist from

Darionne Jones.  Clydell Jones, who came off the bench to score

his 8 points in the quarter, hit the second of his two 3 pointers at the

buzzer from 26 feet to put Picayune up 33-24 at the break.

Long Beach scored the first five points in the second half to cut the

lead to 33-29, but Picayune went on a 8-0 run fueled by a Darionne

Jones 3 pointer, a Perkins 3 pointer and layup to lead 41-29 with

5:12 left in the third quarter.   The Bearcats cut the lead to 46-40

with 2:03 left, but Chris Griffith scored on consecutive possession

for Picayune and Brandon Fortenberry drained a 10 foot jumper

with :04 left to put the Tide up 52-40.

Picayune (17-2, 8-0) was led by Hawkins with 14 points (3 three

pointers). Darionne Jones and Perkins each finished with 12 points.

Griffith and Alan Moran (3 threes) each had 9 points.  Other Tide

scoring was: Clydell Jones 8, Chris Dees 6, Fortenberry 2, Wayne

Mickel 2.

Owen McNally had 16 points and Jeremy Hill added 15 points for

Long Beach (14-6, 6-2).

Lady Tide 41  Long Beach 29

The last time these teams played back in December, Picayune got

a game winning shot at the buzzer from Jamelle Clark to win at

Long Beach.  The second time around was just as tough for the

Lady Tide, but they did not need any late heroics in winning 41-29

to move the record to 17-2 overall and 8-0 in division 8-4A action.

The game had five lead changes in the first quarter with Picayune

leading 10-7 on a last second layup by Chanel Wills.

The second quarter belonged to Picayune's Dandy Dozen guard

Dedrea Magee as she pumped in 6 points and dished out 3 assists

to push the Lady Tide to a 23-20 halftime lead.

Picayune lead 31-26 after three quarters and went on a 7-0 run to

lead 38-26 with 1:22 left in the game.  Picayune held Long Beach

to a lone 3 point basket by Merrien Mulleur in the final quarter.

Picayune (17-2, 7-0) was lead by Magee with 18 points.  Breonne

Spikes added 10 points and Jamelle Clark had 6 points and

9 rebounds as she battled against Long Beach's 6-4 Susan Griffioen

all night.

Mulleur and Griffieon both finished with 9 points and Griffieon

blocked 5 shots for Long Beach (14-6, 5-3).