Perkins leads Maroon Tide into finals

Lady Tide stings Hornets

by Carey Meitzler

Maroon Tide 54  Poplarville 41

Randy Perkins pumped in 19 points in leading the Maroon Tide past Poplarville

54-41 in the semi-finals of the Division 8-4A tournament avenging a regular season

loss to the Hornets on January 27th.

Poplarville jumped out to a 6-0 lead in the early going, put Picayune fought back

to tie at 10-10 at the end of the first quarter.  J.J. Richardson nailed 3 pointer to

open the second quarter, but Randy Perkins scored on a lay up and then stole the

ball from the Hornets at half court and drove in for another lay up to give the Maroon

Tide their first lead at 14-13 with 6:01 on the clock.  Darius Hart answered with a

put back of a missed shot to regain the lead 15-14 for Poplarville.   Perkins then

converted one of two free throws to tie the game at 15-15 with 5:12 left in the

quarter.  PIcayune went on a 9-2 run that was capped off by Clydell "Instant

Offense" Jones.  Jones entered the game with under a minute to play in the quarter

and immediately drained a 3 pointer from deep in the left corner on an inbounds

pass to put Picayune up 24-17 at the half.

Picayune (23-4) jumped out to a 29-17 lead as the third quarter got underway on

a Darionne Jones basket and a Chazz Hawkins three pointer that forced the Hornets

to burn a timeout with 6:34 on the clock.  Picayune lead 38-25 when the quarter

ended as Hawkins made two free throws courtesy of a technical foul against Poplarville.

The Hornets cut the lead to 10 points early in the final stanza, but the Maroon Tide

would build the lead to as many as 16 points and coasted home behind the play of

Perkins who made 6 of 8 free throws and added a lay up on a breakaway in the final

three minutes.

Supporting Perkins 19 points was Darionne Jones with 10 points, Hawkins with 8,

Chris Griffith 7, and Clydell Jones with 5.

Hart led Poplarville with 11 points and Ike Bowden chipped in 10 points.

Picayune will play Long Beach at 8:30 pm on Friday for the championship.

Lady Tide 48  Poplarville 27

After a thirteen day layoff since their last game, a rusty Picayune Lady Tide team was

given an early scare by Poplarville, but Picayune righted the ship and pulled away in the

second half for a 48-27 win and a berth in the championship game on Friday.

Picayune lead 23-17 at half and pulled away behind the play of Jamelle Clark and

Breonne Spikes.   Clark finished with 16 points and Spikes added 10 points.  Dedrea

Magee managed 8 points for Picayune, now 23-2 on the season.

Picayune will play Pass Christian at 7:00 pm on Friday for the championship.