Gulf Coast upsets No. 19 PRCC at Poplarville

Mississippi Gulf Coast got big games from Duran Parish and Omarion Smith on Tuesday night to pull a road upset of archrival Pearl River. The Bulldogs beat No. 19 Wildcats 85-79 in Poplarville to snap a four-game losing streak.

"The guys played with a lot of grit, a lot of composure," Gulf Coast coach Owen Miller said. "I'm just proud of how we performed tonight. This is a win I think that can help us moving forward."

Parish (Fr., Biloxi/Biloxi) had 24 points and five assists, and Omarion Smith (So., Atlanta Ga./Douglas County) had an 18-point, 14-rebound double-double to give Gulf Coast its first win over Pearl River since Nov. 15, 2021, when the Bulldogs won 65-62 in Poplarville.

Parish had 11 points at halftime and Gulf Coast (3-4) was up 38-31. The Bulldogs led by as many as 13 seven minutes into the second half, but the Wildcats got within 65-63 with six minutes to play.

Smith, though, nailed a 3-pointer on the next possession.

"O was really good," Miller said. "He made some shots. He's a handful, too. He can play around the rim, and he can play away from the basket. He made some jump shots tonight. They played off him and he made a couple shots. That opened it up for him to slash to the rim."

Gulf Coast was able to push it back out to eight after that, helped by a pair of 3-pointers by Parish. He made 8-of-13 shots from the field and 2-of-3 behind the arc, adding two steals to boot.

"He's a pretty good player, isn't he?" Miller said. "He's a handful man. He played with so much composure. He never got rattled. He played really well defensively, too."

His 6-for-7 night at the free-throw line was part of an 81.5-percent shooting performance by the team. Pearl River missed 13 free throws to shoot 55.2 percent.

Gulf Coast outshot PRCC from the field, the 3-point stripe and the line.

Parish and Jabarie Robinson (So., Raymond/Raymond) made 7-of-8 free throws in the final 90 seconds to ice the game. Robinson had 15 points, and Jabbari Barry (Fr., Lake Charles La./Barbe) had 12.

"We've got a lot of new guys," Miller said. "We're still trying to figure things out, but it was much different from the Jones game. We played with a lot of anxiety, were rushed and panicked a little bit. Tonight, on the road in a good environment, we stayed calm."

Gulf Coast will be back at Dantzler Arena on Thursday when the William Carey JV visits. Tipoff is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. Tickets are available at http://mgcccbulldogs.com/tickets, and the game will be streamed at https://mgcccbulldogs.com/watch.

For more information on MGCCC's 11 intercollegiate athletic teams, follow @MGCCCBulldogs on Twitter and MGCCCBulldogs on Facebook, and go to mgcccbulldogs.com.