By MAURICE SINGLETON/Sports Writer

KILN – Hancock (10-9, 1-3) dominated the Biloxi Indians (10-5, 2-1) in non-district play on Thursday, stretching their lead over three quarters to pull off the 69-60 upset. It marked the fifth straight win for the Hawks under the direction of first-year head coach Conner Entrekin.

The Hawks would open up with a 14-10 first quarter, extending that margin to 34-23 at halftime, then outscoring the Indians in the third quarter by 14 points to take a 50-35 lead into the fourth quarter. The Hawks would extend the lead to as many as 20 points in the fourth quarter (65-45) with just over three minutes in the game.

The win was made even sweeter because it was the second BIG win of the week for the Hawks, as they defeated Gulfport on Tuesday.

“They bought in as a team, and everybody touched the ball, and they weren’t selfish,” said Entriken. “Everybody got their points, everybody played defense. It’s a great team win.

“They’ve bought into that one game at a time mentality,” said Entriken. “They’ve kind of got that chip on their shoulders, and we’re going to try to keep it rolling and have a great practice tomorrow.”

Biloxi scored first to take a 2-0 lead, but the Hawks answered with a 3-pointer and held the lead until early in the second quarter when Biloxi regained the lead on a pair of D. Hayes free throws to go up 15-14. But that was the last lead for Biloxi. 

Hancock would get scoring from six different players during the remainder of the second quarter as Donte Taylor sank an 8-footer, then Mike Washington hit a short-range jumper. Jude Ulrich scored on a layup, and then Gabe Friche sank a 5-footer. Jaxson Knight scored on his first of two layups in the quarter and Taylor sank a 10-footer. Malachi Lightell scored on two layups, the second to close out the Hawks’ scoring in the quarter.

The second quarter was more of the same as the Hawks extended their lead to 15 points. The Hawks would extend their lead to as many as 20 points in the fourth quarter, but the Indians managed to pull within nine points in the last minute. 

“They got a lot of offensive rebounds,” said Biloxi coach Seber Windham. “Number 24 (Knight) had ten offensive rebounds. Whenever you give up so many second chances, it breaks your will because you played decent defense then you give up offensive rebounds. So, we’ve got to clean that up. We’ve got to clean up our rotations, keep the ball in front of us.

“Most of all, you’ve got to give Hancock credit,” said Windham. “They’re hot right now. They’re playing really well. You’ve got to give their coach some credit. He’s got them playing at a really high level right now. Sometimes when you have a game like this, you’ve got to learn from it and pick up the pieces for next week.”

Taylor led Hancock with 16 points, including three 3-pointers. Washington added 15 points, and Knight contributed 13 points.

Reginald Conner led Biloxi with 14 points. D. Hayes added 12 points, followed by Dayshawn Magee with 11 points and Tremaine Brumfield with 10 points.

Hancock plays Hattiesburg on Saturday in Pascagoula at the Raising Cane’s Panther Classic, and Biloxi plays at St. Martin on Tuesday.