By CURTIS ROCKWELL/Sports Director

WIGGINS — The Stone boys basketball team picked up their biggest win of the season late last week.

The Tomcats handed previously unbeaten Wayne County its first loss of the season after 19 straight wins to open the season, coming away with a 51-49 win over the visiting War Eagles in Region 4-5A play.

The win moves Stone to just 11-13 overall, but more importantly the Tomcats moved to a solid 5-2 in the region race with three league games left. Meanwhile, Wayne County still sits in the top spot in the league standings at 6-1 and is 19-1 overall.

Stone and Northeast Jones, which is also 5-2 in the loop, sit tied for the second seed currently. The Tigers, who will host the region tournament in a couple of weeks, beat the Tomcats in a close 62-60 decision in Wiggins a week ago.

In the big upset win over Wayne County, Stone got another productive outing from senior standout guard Jabari Moye as he tallied a game-high 21 points and pulled down eight rebounds as well as dishing out assists and grabbing five steals in the victorious outing.

Moye’s teammate Cleo Johnson chipped in 14 points and hauled down nine boards as well, and freshman big man Elijah Bostic added seven points for the Tomcats.

Stone, under the direction of head coach Quenton Loving, heads to Hurley/Wade to face last place East Central in region action Tuesday night, and then the Tomcats face fourth place Purvis and fifth place Vancleave to round out the regular season over the next two weeks.

If the Tomcats manage to finish as one of the top two seeds in Region 4-5A during regular season play, then that gives them an opening round bye in the upcoming league tourney and an automatic berth in the semifinals of that event. That opening round bye also assures Stone of an automatic berth in the upcoming Class 5A South State playoffs as one of the top four seeds in the final standings for postseason purposes.