Basketball Recap: Stone Drops Highest Score of Season Against East Central

Tomcats

Team Score

01/25/25 @ East Central	68
11/19/24 vs Collins	62
12/19/24 vs Resurrection Catholic	61
12/12/24 vs Poplarville	60
11/16/24 @ Perry Central	55

Winning is always nice, but doing so behind a season-high score is even better (just ask Stone). They walked away with a 68-58 win over the East Central Hornets on Saturday. The Tomcats have seen this before: they got the W the last time they saw the Hornets, too.

Stone got their victory on the backs of several key players, but it was Jhase Jackson out in front who went 10 for 16 en route to 29 points. That makes it three consecutive games in which Jackson has scored at least a third of Stone's points. Deandre Smith also deserves some recognition as he posted his first block of the season.

East Central's loss came despite strong showings from Aj Hopkins and Cole Harville. Hopkins went 9 of 18 on his way to 26 points and three steals, while Harville went 7 for 11 en route to 15 points along with seven rebounds and three steals. Those 15 points gave Harville a new career-high. Another player making a difference was Brody Howard, who posted ten points.

The win got Stone back to even at 9-9. As for East Central, they dropped their record down to 3-14 with the loss, which was their fourth straight at home.

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