By CURTIS ROCKWELL/Sports Director

PASCAGOULA — Pascagoula senior standout Kelan Rich poured in a game-high 29 points in a big win over Gulfport Saturday afternoon.

But two days later, on Monday night, Rich was nowhere to be found in the Panther line-up.

Fortunately, for PHS, in the end, it didn’t matter.

Pascagoula clinched a berth in the upcoming Class 6A South State playoffs with a 54-38 win over visiting Hancock. The decision pushed the Panthers to a perfect 8-0 in Region 4-6A play, and it also solidified a top two seed in the league tourney which tips off next week in the Kiln.

That lofty seeding assured PHS of an opening round bye in the tourney and a spot in the semifinals and the top four finishers in the annual affair qualify for the state playoffs.

Rich was suspended after being ejected from that game over the weekend in the waning seconds of the win over the Admirals after being tagged with his second technical foul. According to PHS head coach Lorenzo Wright, Rich will also miss Tuesday’s game.

Pascagoula moved to an impressive 19-3 overall with the win.

“That feeling never gets old, this is what we play for,” Wright said, about clinching that state playoff berth. “The only way you can get to a championship is by qualifying for the playoffs, and now that we have that out of the way we can now put our focus on winning the regular season district championship.”

Without their leading scorer, the Panthers produced one of their top defensive outings of the season. It marked the fourth time this year that Wright’s crew held an opponent under 40 points in a game, including the second time against the Hawks after a 45-19 decision in mid-December.

However, it took PHS some time to adjust to being without Rich as the Hawks jumped out to a 13-6 lead after the first period as both Jude Ulrich and Jaden Lee scored five points apiece including a 3-pointer for both and Kaison Koenenn dropped in a trey as well.

But PHS responded with a trio of triples of its own in the second stanza, as Tomareo Johnson came off the bench to nail a pair and Ireyion Harvey bucketed one as well and the home team cut the deficit to just two points at halftime at 22-20.

It was the third frame in which the Panthers saw that state playoff berth begin to come into focus, as they doubled up HHS 20-10 in the most explosive quarter for either team all night as big man Quey’Sean Taylor came alive with seven points including a 3-pointer. Justin Roque and Marcus Cooper added a trey apiece as well as PHS began to take control entering the final period up 40-32 despite the Hawks getting seven points in the stanza from center Jaxson Knight including a triple of his own.

With momentum now solely on their side, the Panthers cruised to the win down the stretch more than doubling up the Hawks 14-6 in the fourth period.

Taylor led PHS with 11 points while both Roque and Blake Nettles added nine points apiece to the winning effort as PHS completed a season sweep of the Hawks and won their 20th straight region game.

Koennen had 10 points for Hancock.

Pascagoula remains at home in region play Tuesday night to host Picayune while Hancock heads back home to host West Harrison in league play also.