By STAND CALDWELL/Sports Writer

BROOKLYN – The Picayune boys are under new management this season, and the Maroon Tide are having some growing pains as the high school basketball season nears the midway point.

The short-handed Tide lost their fifth straight game – all by a combined total of just 26 points – as a second-half rally came up short in a 50-44 defeat to Forrest County Agricultural Tuesday night at Ellis Showmake Gym on the FCAHS campus.

Picayune dropped to 4-6 overall, while the Aggies improved to 10-3 with their seventh consecutive victory. The Maroon Tide played without two starters who are out with injuries, senior Brunson Stockstill and sophomore Kelton Stewart.

“Our two best players are out hurt, so we’re not at full strength,” said Picayune coach Dennan Seal, who co-coaches the Maroon Tide with Run Bowen. “The kids played hard. We just have to get through these next few games until we can get all our guys back.”

This one got away from the Tide in the second quarter, when Forrest County outscored Picayune 20-8, and built as much as a 13-point lead midway through the period.

“We just had a bunch of turnovers,” said Seal. “We couldn’t keep the ball in front of us, gave up a couple of easy baskets, some layups, and it started to snowball on us a little bit.”

Picayune had a good start, leading 9-8 after the quarter, thanks to a 3-point shot from sophomore Beaux Hover.

But Aggie junior Darion Griffin opened the second period by hitting a 16-footer from the left side, igniting a 10-0 run, capped by a trey from the left baseline from sophomore Chandler Watson.

“I just think we were able to get some deflections defensively,” said Aggie coach Scott Morris. “Getting a lot of deflections means you’re playing with a lot of energy, so I thought out energy level was really high.”

Forrest County kept the heat on through the remainder of the period, converting 9 of 14 shots (64.3 percent) from the field, and FCAHS took what would be its largest lead of the night, 26-13, on a fast break layup by senior Rico Kennedy.

FCAHS took a 28-17 lead into the halftime locker room, but it was a different-looking Picayune team that came out for the second half.

“We just told the kids to take better care of the ball,” said Seal “We wanted to just keep the basketball in front of us, and not allow so many leak-outs and easy baskets at the rim and in transition.”

The Maroon Tide were 8 of 10 from the field in the third quarter, as they slowly but surely began to reel the Aggies back into a game.

“They’re tough,” said Morris. “A lot of those kids have been in their program that’s been to the Final Four, to the Big House twice. They’ve got a lot of pride over in Picayune, and we knew they weren’t going to let us just walk all over them.

“They came out with a lot of fight there in the second half, and we could have responded with a little more toughness than we did.”

FCAHS maintain its lead through the period, but the Tide closed strong, ending the period with an 8-0 run to trail just 37-33 after three quarters of play.

“At halftime, we talked about cleaning up our mistakes,” said Tide senior Jordan Hathorne. “We knew we could get back in the game. We just had to make some shots and get some stops.”

But the Tide were never quite able to get over the top in the fourth quarter. FCAHS converted pair of layups, bracketed around a steal, to extend its lead.

Hathorne carried Picayune in the final period, scoring 7 of his team-high 11 points in the last eight minutes.

At the end, though, he was left without much help, as sophomore center Jeremiah Mark and senior London Ivy both fouled out. Mark was especially missed, as his departure took away the Tide’s only big man.

Still, Picayune kept the game in reach through the final minutes. Hathorne hit a 3-ball from the left side, then Hover converted a fast break layup off the defensive rebound to pull the Tide to within two points, 44-42.

“Coaching situation is working out pretty good for us,” said Hathorne. “We’ve just got to get healthy again, and get things right. We just need to keep playing hard.”

But senior Davian Combest drove the lane for a layup, then sank one of two foul shots after Ivy banged in a 12-footer from the left side.

Picayune had three chances in the final minute, but were unable to add to its total, as the Maroon Tide missed their last three desperate 3-point attempts.

Free throws proved to be the difference on the scoresheet. Forrest County was only 11 of 21 from the foul line, but kept Picayune off the line for most of the game. The Tide only had seven foul shots and converted just two.

Mark finished with 10 points, and sophomore Xavier Dennis added 8 points for Picayune. Kennedy led a balanced offense for the Aggies, scoring 12 points, and Watson and Combest each had 11 points.

Picayune will have two more games, both at home, to get things turned around before the holiday break, against Petal on Friday and Williamson (Ala.) in a 1:30 p.m. Saturday matinee.

“We’ve just got to get healthy over the Christmas break,” said Seal. “We’re playing in a Christmas tournament over in Covington (La.), so we’ll see if we can get everyone back on the court.”