By By Marty Stamper/The Meridian Star
Jan. 4, 2001
FOREST Choctaw Central, South Leake, and the host Forest Bearcats all came away with easy wins in the opening round of the Central Mississippi Classic Wednesday.
Today's boys' games have Pearl taking on Scott Central at 4:15 p.m. in the losers' bracket and Choctaw Central facing Forest at 6:45 in the winners' bracket.
Choctaw Central boys 62, Pearl 52: The Warriors improved to 6-11 with the early afternoon win.
Choctaw Central led 20-15 after one quarter and pulled out to a 31-21 halftime advantage. The Warriors extended their lead to 48-31 by the end of the third quarter.
The win, along with a road victory at Williams-Sullivan on Tuesday, gave the Warriors their first back-to-back wins of the season.
Tyler Williamson led the Warriors with 18 points, 12 of which came in the second half. Ira Ben scored 16, Devon Jim had nine, and Braden Sam added six.
Pearl, which is coached by former Mississippi State guard Al Perry, got 16 points from Curwin Burk, 11 from Matt Buchanan (formerly of Newton County and Quitman), and 10 from Ricky Jenkins. The Pirates have only one win to date.
Forest boys 81, Scott Central 30: Scott Central trailed 19-10 after a quarter and that was the Rebels' best period in the 51-point drubbing.
Forest took a 40-12 lead into halftime and was up 59-20 by the end of the third period as the Rebels remained winless for the season.
Forest, 7-8, got 21 points from senior Maurice Longmire who hit five 3-pointers. Braxton Boone scored 11 points, Trevarrous Willis had 10, Charles Rhodes added eight, Justin Lyles scored seven, and Paul Brown and Lorenzo Hunt both had six.
Scott, 0-8, got 13 points from Roderick Loper and five each from Cedric Gray and Courtney McClendon.
South Leake boys 86, Brandon 55: Wildcat senior Jamal Brown scored 42 points to lead South Leake to the blowout victory.
Brown had 13 points in the first quarter as South Leake jumped out to a 25-13 lead. He added 14 points in the second period as the Wildcats cruised into halftime with a 47-25 advantage.
South Leake, the defending Class 2A state champion, improved to 17-1. The Wildcats also got 11 points from Kalus Johnson and 10 each from Chris Bloodsaw and Lekendrick Fortune.
Brandon, whose only win this season came against Class 2A St. Andrew's, got 15 points from Corey Washington, 11 from Richard Burch, and nine each from Jerious Norwood and Terrell Christian.