By CURTIS ROCKWELL/Sports Director

JACKSON — The school record 31-game regular season win streak came to an end for the Pascagoula High boys basketball team Saturday night.
The Panthers fell in heartbreaking fashion on a shot at the final buzzer to Starkville 52-49 in the 14th annual Mississippi Hoops Challenge Thanksgiving Showcase here at Tougaloo College.
The Panthers fall to 6-1 overall on the young campaign with their first regular season loss in over a year. Meanwhile, the Yellow Jackets now stand at 6-1 as well after the close win.

Pascagoula, which was held to its lowest point total point total since a loss by the same exact score to Madison Central to begin last season, was led by its pair of senior standouts in Blake Nettles with 12 points and Kelan Rich with 11 points in the loss.
“We have to be better at understanding situations,” PHS head coach Lorenzo Wright, who is 35-3 at the helm of the Panthers over the past 13 months, said. “We failed to execute down the stretch and turned it over several times, it’s a teachable moment for our guys.Hopefully it will pay off when it counts. We were not mentally tough tonight, they were. They made the plays and we didn’t, hats off to Starkville. Give Starkville all the credit.”
The contest was the second long road trip in a six day span for Pascagoula, as the Panthers were coming off a win along the banks of the Mississippi River with an easy 73-44 win over host Warren Central in Vicksburg on Monday night in the final game of the River City Challenge Tournament.
The Panthers remain on the road next as they head to Lyman for a game against home-standing Harrison Central.

Those Red Rebels were also in action Saturday night at home as they thumped Tylertown 74-31 in the final game of their annual HCHS Thanksgiving Shootout.
The host team jumped out to a commanding 24-0 lead after the first period and never looked back in roughing up the Class 3A Chiefs.
Shaun Murray had 15 points plus six rebounds and six assists to pace HCHS, while Jonathan Espinoza added 11 points and Nehemiah Barnett, Jasen Pace and Tony Magee each chipped in eight points apiece to the winning effort.
Tuesday’s game will be preceded by a girl’s game between the Lady Panthers and the HCHS girl’s team.