[12/05/02]By the time the high school basketball season truly gets going in December, most teams have all of their players back on the floor and are ready to get down to business.

Porters Chapel and Briarfield, however, are still feeling the effects of football a month after their seasons ended.

The schools have canceled a game scheduled for Today at PCA because each has one player in Friday’s MPSA all-star football game, which begins at 6 p.m. at Mississippi College.

Joseph Ivey, who is averaging 19.4 points and 13 rebounds per game for PCA, and Briarfield’s John Marshall Whatley, will be teammates on the South team in the all-star game.

Tallulah Academy lineman Britt Grady, Central Hinds’ Chris Anderson, and Tri-County lineman Brandon Peden will also play in the game.

“They requested that we move the game. It was very much a mutual decision,” PCA coach Kevin Griffin said.

The girls’ game between PCA and Briarfield will go on as scheduled tonight, beginning around 6, and because the two schools are conference rivals the boys’ game is not being canceled entirely.

The Eagles and Rebels are scheduled to meet at the Huntington tournament on Dec. 20, and both coaches have agreed to count that game toward the Conference 5-A standings, Griffin said.

While Ivey has more basketball to look forward to, this is probably his last football game.

The 6-foot-5 wide receiver, who led PCA with 27 catches for 537 yards and five touchdowns, was being recruited by several four-year colleges at the beginning of the season but said the interest has dropped off since then.

That was fine with Ivey, though. He said he wasn’t dreaming of a long career in football.

“I’m not really worried about it,” Ivey said. “It’s not like I love (football) so much that I’m really trying to go somewhere just for that.”

So he’ll suit up in a football uniform for the last time Friday night, and just try to have fun. This week’s practices have focused mainly on getting back into a football rhythm, Ivey said.

“I’m a little rusty,” said Ivey, who has caught 41 passes for 844 yards and 11 touchdowns in his career. “I have not played football in two months. We haven’t done a whole lot, just learning plays mostly.”