Basketball Recap: East Central Falls Despite Big Games from Cole Harville and Aj Hopkins

East Central was not able to break out of their rough patch on Saturday as the team picked up their fourth straight loss. They fell 68-58 to the Stone Tomcats. Despite running the score up even higher than they did in their prior game last Tuesday (55), the Hornets still had to take the loss.

East Central's defeat shouldn't obscure the performances of Aj Hopkins, who went 9 of 18 on his way to 26 points and three steals, and Cole Harville, who went 7 for 11 en route to 15 points along with seven rebounds and three steals. That was a full 44.8% of East Central's points, marking the sixth time in a row he's posted more than a third of the team's points. The team also got some help courtesy of Brody Howard, who put up ten points.

Hornets

Assists

01/25/25 vs Stone	16
01/14/25 vs Wayne County	14
12/17/24 @ Wayne County	14
11/14/24 vs Chickasaw	11
12/20/24 @ Poplarville	10

Even though they lost, East Central was working as a unit and finished the game with 16 assists. That's the most assists they've posted since back in November of 2024.

Stone's win was a true team effort, with many players turning in solid performances. Perhaps the best among them was Jhase Jackson, who went 10 for 16 en route to 29 points. Jackson's afternoon made it three games in a row in which he has scored at least ten points. Another player making a difference was Isaiah Scarbrough, who dropped a double-double on 16 points and 11 boards.

East Central's loss dropped their record down to 3-14. As for Stone, their victory was their first in the district, bumping their district record up to 1-4 and their overall record up to 9-9.

East Central wasted no time getting back out on the court and has already played their next game, a 66-42 defeat against Vancleave on the 28th. As for Stone, they also didn't take long to hit the court again: they've already played their next match, a 74-27 loss against Laurel on the 27th.