Picayune drowns Hancock Hawks 79-53 in regular season finale

by Carey Meitzler

With Chris Griffith and Brandon Fortenberry held out of the game due to injuries

suffered earlier in the week, sophomore Chris Dees turned in a superb performance

for the Maroon Tide pumping in 21 points as Picayune defeated the Hancock

Hawks 79-53.

Chazz Hawkins started the game with a 3 pointer and added another late in the

quarter as Picayune raced to a 24-11 advantage after one quarter.  Dees scored

the last four points of  the quarter and the first two of the second quarter in a span

of two minutes.  Picayune lead 34-24 at the half.

Dees scored repeatedly on short turnaround jumpers on the baseline to tally

15 points in the second half.  He also added two slam dunks as Picayune ran

away from Hancock.

Supporting Dees team-leading 21 point effort were Chazz Hawkins with 14 points

and Randy "Rooster" Perkins with 13 points and 4 steals. Darionne "Smooth" Jones

had 12 points, 6 rebounds, and 2 blocked shots.  Clydell Jones finished with 10 points

including a 3 pointer and a slam dunk.  Alan Moran and Ben Daly scored 5 and

4 points respectively.

Noah Heitzman led Hancock (6-19) with 13 points and Drew Malley added 12 points.

Picayune (22-4, 11-1) will now turn their attention to the Division 8-4A tournament

next week in Poplarville.  

The Maroon Tide will play the winner of the St Stanislaus-Poplarville on Thursday

at 5:30pm in Poplarville.

The Lady Tide will play on Thursday at 4:00pm with the opponent still to be determined. 

The winner of tonight's Pearl River Central-Poplarville game will play Bay High in the

first round of the division 8-4A tournament.  Picayune awaits the winner of that game.