By CURTIS ROCKWELL/Sports Director

KILN — Pascagoula continued its dominance of Region 4-6A Friday night, but not without a fight.

The Panthers won their 24th straight league game as well as their second consecutive region tournament title slipping past West Harrison 71-67 in a hard-fought, come-from-behind effort.

Pascagoula trailed by almost double digits at halftime, at 42-33, before exploding for 24 points in the third quarter to overtake the Hurricanes and hold on for the win down the stretch.

“It’s always great to win this time of the year,” PHS head coach Lorenzo Wright, whose team is 24-3 overall, said. “Teams that you play against and coaches that you coach against get better this time a year so to win another district championship is always a good feeling.”

Senior standout guard Kelan Rich had the hot hand in that third frame, as he tallied 11 points including a trio of 3-pointers to push the Panthers back in front. Ireyion Harvey added six points in the stanza for PHS, and Tomareo Johnson also sank a triple as Pascagoula out-scored WHHS 24-11 in the quarter.

The Panthers then hit nine-out-of-14 free throws in the fourth quarter to keep the Hurricanes in a holding pattern. Quey’Sean Taylor had six points in the period, including going four-of-six from the charity stripe, and Johnson had another trey as PHS secured the win despite Hurricane guard JeMarcus McCaleb draining a trio of 3-pointers tying to keep his team even.

Logan Robinson scored 11 first-half points for West Harrison, including nine in the opening frame thanks to a 3-pointer, and Owen Reese added nine points while Deandre Weston scored seven second-stanza points including a triple of his own, as the Hurricanes blew out to that aforementioned nine-point lead at halftime.

Rich dropped a game-high 20 points for Pascagoula, while Blake Nettles netted 13 points and Taylor added 11 points to the winning effort.

Robinson led West Harrison with 14 points, while McCaleb added 11 points and both Weston and Jazear Carter had 10 points apiece.

Next up for both teams is an opening round home game in the upcoming Class 6A South State playoffs next weekend.

“We have to continue to improve each day if we expect to make a push in the playoffs. One percent better each day is always our goal.”