WESSON – Co-Lin men’s head coach Dennis Sims tried somethingdifferent to fire up his Wolves following Monday night’s 72-69 lossat the hands of Hinds.

Instead of a regular practice Tuesday, the Wolves watch theMonday night game against Hinds and came away unhappy with theirperformance. They were determined to do something about it beforethe next game.

Thursday night at Mullen Gymnasium, the Wolves put togetherpossibly their best game of the season as they manhandled the PearlRiver Wildcats 88-67 for a key South Division win.

Pearl River, coached by veteran Richard Mathis, came into thegame undefeated in the division with a 9-0 record. When they left,the Wildcats were 9-1 and 17-6 on the season. Back on January 16 atPoplarville, Co-Lin lost to Pearl River 79-76.

“It was one of the best first halfs we’ve played since I havebeen here,” said Sims following the win. “We got some easy stealsand some easy baskets in transition.”

The Wolves had a three-hour practice Wednesday to prepare forthe Wildcats.

Co-Lin jumped on Pearl River from the start. With 1:24 leftuntil halftime, Co-Lin freshman center Quentin Christian nailed afield goal to give the Wolves a 23-point, 52-29 lead. Teammatefreshman forward Brannon Barfield went in for a one-handed dunk topush their lead to 54-29 at the half.

The Wolves continued to play tough defense as the Wildcatsscratched away at the lead but found themselves down by 30 points,76-46, with 8:16 left to play. Pearl River cut the deficit finallyto 23 points as the game ended.

“Pearl River was undefeated,” added Sims of their divisionworksheet. “It’s got to give our guys some confidence. And if ourguys put forward the effort, we will be in good shape againstanybody.”

The Wolves placed five players in double figures last night.Dickerson led the way with 18 points (including 4 treys) and twoblocked shots. Sophomore guard Barry Whitley pumped in 16 points,had 10 assists and made four steals. Scoring 15 points, pullingdown seven rebounds and blocking four shots was Barfield. Christiancollected 13 points, eight rebounds and blocked one shot. RodHaynes finished with 11 points, seven steals and seven assists.

Co-Lin was 12 of 14 from the free throw line in the first halfwith Christian leading the way netting 5 of 6 freebies. The Wolvesfinished 14 of 20 while Pearl River made 15 of 20.

Pearl River got 12 points from freshman guard T.J. Martin. ZekeDavis netted 11 points. Top rebounder was Ernest Nixon with ninerebounds. James Singleton followed with eight rebounds.