By STAN CALDWELL/Sports Writer

HATTIESBURG — The Moss Point boys would love to turn the page on the calendar and put 2024 in the past.

But there is still some unfinished business before the new year rolls around, as the Tigers are playing this week in the Hattiesburg High Coca-Cola Holiday Classic at Watkins Gymnasium on the HHS campus.

And Moss Point got a positive result in Thursday’s opening round, defeating Oak Grove 46-39. The Tigers (5-11) will face host Hattiesburg at 7 :30 p.m. Friday in the boys semifinals. The Warriors (4-8) will face Sumrall in the loser’s bracket.

“A tournament like this, playing three games in three days, is going to help us,” said Moss Point head coach Daryl Osby. “We’ve played a pretty tough schedule, a lot of 7As and 6As, to get ready for our (region), so I know it’s eventually going to pay off.”

It hasn’t been an easy road for MP this year, as the Tigers had four players transfer schools in August, including their leading scorer from last season.

“You just have to move on with what you’ve got,” said Osby. “We’ve got a lot of guys out there who have never played before, and they’re starting to improve, and we’re getting better as a team.”

Moss Point also played the early part of the season without senior guard JuJuan Nettles, who was out with an arm injury. Now that he’s back, the Tigers look like a team that might be starting to click.

Nettles has teamed up with junior forward William Rogers to give Moss Point some much-needed leadership, and they took turns carrying the Tigers against OG, Nettles in the first half, Rogers in the second.

MP spotted the Warriors an early 2-0 lead, then Rogers got open for a back-door cut and a layup that put the Tigers ahead for good, and they never trailed the rest of the way.

“We try to grind it out on offense, and if you let us run our sets, we’re pretty decent,” said Osby. “Most teams have been playing us a zone, but when I saw they played a man tonight, I knew we could get some good looks.”

Offensively, Moss Point was deliberate, but efficient, taking just 32 shots for the game, and converting 18 of them for 56.3 percent shooting from the field. The Tigers only attempted two 3-point shots, and neither one was good.

“We haven’t started the season like we wanted to, but we’re starting to pick it up, and I think we’ve been playing hard all year,” said Rogers. “We’ve got some good sets that we use. The more set plays we’re able to use, the more easy baskets we can get.”

Osby has built this team around defense and rebounding, and both were big against Oak Grove. The Tigers held the Warriors to just 3 of 15 shots from the field in the first half, and pulled down 23 defensive rebounds for the game, including 20 one-and-done possessions.

“We take defense personal,” said Nettles, who scored 14 points for the Tigers, 11 coming in the first half. “We put our pride in our defense, and come hard in practice every day, beating up on each other, and that makes us better.”

Moss Point led 8-2 after the first quarter, and 18-10 at halftime, but Osby thought his team should have been further ahead. One issue was foul shooting. The Tigers were just 8 of 24 from the free throw line, and they turned the ball over 20 times.

“Our goal is to hold teams to 50 (points) or less and we did that tonight,” said Osby. “But I’m not happy with our turnovers or our free throw shooting. We left a lot of points on the table. That’s something we’ve got to improve on.

“But when you’re dealing with kids, and yesterday was Christmas and we had to play today, but I’m glad we got a win. We needed it.”

The Tigers put things together in the third quarter, after Oak Grove scored two unanswered baskets to start the second half, closing the margin to 18-14.

Rogers got a layup, but the Warriors answered with a 3-point shot to make it 20-17. However, that was as close as it would get. Rogers drove the baseline for a reverse layup that started the Tigers on a decisive 11-0 run.

Moss Point converted 5 of 7 shots (71.4 percent) in the third period, and were 11 of 18 (61.1 percent) in the second half. Rogers finished with a game-high 15 points, nine in the second half, despite playing much of the third quarter and into the fourth with four fouls.

“I wanted to keep playing, but I didn’t want to foul out,” said Rogers. “I just had to be careful on defense.”

The Tigers led 33-20 after the third quarter, and maintained a double-digit lead until the final minute, when Oak Grove ended the game on a 7-0 run against the Tigers’ bench players, including a 3-pointer at the buzzer for the final margin.

In addition to the three games this week, Moss Point also has a Region 8-4A contest before the end of the year, Tuesday at Poplarville, and after losing their region opener to Greene County on December 17, it’s a game the Tigers need to win.

“We like playing tough teams, because it gets us ready for our region,” said Nettles. “We want to be one of the best teams in the state, and to do that, you’ve got to play the best. That’s the only way to do it.”