By CURTIS ROCKWELL/Sports Director

OCEAN SPRINGS — Ocean Springs was forced to play a pair of games without its top player over the past week against two different Jackson County foes.
The Greyhounds were able to come out of the unexpected predicament with a split.
Home-standing OSHS clipped Moss Point 49-35 in Hubbard Gymnasium Tuesday night to complete that two game stretch with senior standout shooting guard Maddox Noblitt. Noblitt was suspended for two games after being ejected in a loss to Yazoo City in Madison at the annual “The Jump” event on Saturday, Nov. 9th.

The Greyhounds fell to Pascagoula 80-53 on the road late last week. Ocean Springs now stands at an even 2-2 on the season.
In Noblitt’s absence, Christian Cowan put in a pair of field goals to put OSHS up 10-7 after the first quarter against MPHS.
The Greyhounds began to pull away a bit as the second period unfolded, as Jeremy Packer repeated Cowan’s performance in the opening quarter with a pair of field goals of his own and the home team went into intermission ahead 23-16 despite a 3-pointer from Moss Point’s Treylynn. Anderson and four points from Tiger William Rogers.

It was in the third frame that OSHS managed to take its first double-digit lead of the game, as Cowan and Chip Claunch each drained a trey apiece and Packer added two more field goals and the Greyhounds were up 35-23 after three quarters.
Despite a 3-pointer apiece from Moss Point’s Gerald Nettles and Derrion Hartfield and four points from Charles Turner in the fourth and final period, OSHS responded with six points from Cowan to stay ahead and secure the 14 point win.

Cowan paced OSHS with a game-high 15 points while Packer chipped in 14 points and Thom added eight points.
Turner was the only Tiger in double-digits with 10 and Rogers added nine to the losing effort.
Moss Point sits at 1-4 overall after the loss. The Tigers were severely hampered by the sudden losses of what was expected to be their top two returning players coming into the season when standout Quey’Sean Taylor transferred to arch-rival Pascagoula and Alejandro Montalvo transferred to Biloxi.

The Tigers were coming off of their first win of the season over Gautier 48-43 late last week. Rogers tallied a game-high 19 points in that contest, while Jujuan Nettles and Breland Nicholas added seven points apiece to the winning cause and Anderson pulled down six rebounds while Nettles grabbed five steals.