By CURTIS ROCKWELL/Sports Director

COVINGTON, La. — The Picayune boys basketball team left behind the 2023 portion of their prep basketball schedule with some success heading into the new year.
The Maroon Tide traveled here to the north shore of Lake Pontchartrain and competed for four days in the annual 15-team Hannan Hustle Holiday Tournament hosted by Archbishop Hannan High School.
Picayune won its first three games in the event before falling in exciting fashion 37-36 to the host Hannan Hawks in Saturday night’s tourney championship contest.
It marked the second time this season that the Maroon Tide lost to Hannan, as the Hawks took a 40-26 win a little less than a month ago over visiting Picayune as well.
The Maroon Tide began play on Wednesday with a 57-50 win over Fountainebleau High of Mandeville, La. On Thursday, in quarterfinal action in the winners bracket, the Maroon Tide beat Salmen of Slidell, La., 54-46. And following that, on Friday, Picayune picked up a big 55-42 win over Sophie B. Wright High out of New Orleans, La., to advance to the championship game of the tournament. Picayune was the only team from Mississippi in the event.

Hannan’s A.J. Thompson was named Most Valuable Player in the Tournament, while Picayune’s Dakeith Quinn earned a spot on the Hannan Hustle All Tournament Team.
Here is that squad:
Cashmere Pichon, Holy Cross
Tre Heartly, Salmen
Jack Marcello, Mandeville
Dakeith Quinn, Picayune
Zach Lauro, Hannan
A.J. Thompson, Hannan
Picayune now stands a solid 15-4 overall on the season after the close contest against Hannan, with two of those losses coming to the Hawks. Hannan sits at an equally impressive 15-3 on the year.
The Maroon Tide was coming off a disappointing 50-40 loss at home to Gulfport three days before Christmas. That loss snapped a five-game win streak. The earlier loss to Hannan also snapped a six-game win streak at that point for Picayune.

The only other loss for Picayune on the season came in the second game of the year for the Maroon Tide when they dropped a 61-40 decision to Hattiesburg. The Hub City Tigers are 15-2 overall on the year with their second loss coming Saturday night to Brandon.
Picayune takes most of the week off before hosting Presbyterian Christian of Hattiesburg on Friday. The Maroon Tide then resumes Region 4-6A play on Tuesday, Jan. 9th traveling to Lucedale to face George County. Picayune currently sits tied atop the league standings with a 3-0 mark along with powerful Pascagoula, which has won 15 straight games and stands 15-1 overall.
The Maroon Tide and Panthers will meet twice in region play in January, on Jan. 12th at Kelly Wise gym on the Picayune campus as well as a return match in Pascagoula on Jan. 30th.