CM&I’s Anthony Thompson goes up for a layup over Porters Chapel’s Cole Smith in the first half of Tuesday’s 96-38 win by the Crusaders. Thompson scored 11 points. (Jon GiffinThe Vicksburg Post)

[11/17/04] A hint of revenge tainted the air of the gym at Porters Chapel Academy.

Christ Missionary and Industrial, still bitter from a 60-0 football loss to the Eagles early in the season, decided to take it out on the basketball team.

The Crusaders (3-0) stormed ahead in the third quarter and ran up the score against PCA’s second team in a 96-38 rout on Tuesday. CM&I outscored PCA 58-12 in the second half and five Crusaders scored in double figures.

The Eagles (1-3) followed a 40-point win over Deer Creek on Monday with a 58-point loss to open District 4-A play.

Coaches from both sides bickered after the game about CM&I trying to score 100 points.

“The conversation came about that they wanted to call the headmaster, which I have no problem with,” CM&I coach Dennis Williams said of the altercation.

But Williams immediately brought up the Sept. 3 football game between the district rivals.

“Now when you score touchdowns after touchdowns, they never pulled the ball down and stopped throwing passes,” he said. “This is a game of basketball. I put the second five in, I cleared the bench out. What more do you want me to do?

“This is a basketball game. It’s competitive and the name of the game is to score. I didn’t see them pull the girls out of the girls game, and they won by 50 points. It’s ironic to me that people would complain about such instances.”

While CM&I did substitute its players in the fourth quarter, the Crusaders left at least two starters in at all times and continued to press until the end.

“I’m not a football coach, and I’ve never done that to a team on purpose,” PCA coach Mike Grzanich said, adding that Williams said he wanted to work his backup players. “You can beat me 150-2, as long as you say you want to work on something not score 100 points.

“I heard that several times on the sidelines.”

Williams said his team was preparing for an upcoming tournament in Jackson on Nov. 29, and he didn’t understand why the Eagles were so upset.

“I’m an old athlete from way back in the day, and we never had a mercy rule,” he said. “I didn’t look for a mercy rule when we played football. I didn’t cry at all in a 60-0 win, no big thing. We’re just playing basketball, we’re building momentum. It’s not about them, it’s about my team.”

PCA held close with CM&I during the first half, trailing 16-14 after the first quarter and 38-26 at halftime. Dan Ivey paced the Eagles with 10 points on 5-of-6 shooting in the first half.

Cleo Robinson scored 11 of his game-high 19 points in the first half for CM&I.

But the Crusaders opened the third quarter in a full-court press and quickly put together a 12-0 run for a 50-26 lead.

“I thought our boys believed that we could come out and beat this team, and we just kind of had a collapse early in the third quarter and the game was over after that,” Grzanich said.

Shortly after, Grzanich pulled his starters and put in five bench players.

Ahead 60-32 after the third quarter, CM&I continued to pressure the ball and force turnovers. The Crusaders also hit three 3-pointers and continuously pushed the ball on fast breaks to outscore the Eagles 36-6 in the final quarter.

(G) PCA 55, CM&I 27

Annie Beaugh bounced back from a seven-point performance with a phenomenal game to lead the Lady Eagles to a blowout win.

Beaugh scored 29 points on 13-of-19 shooting and grabbed nine rebounds. The rest of the team combined to hit 9 of 38 baskets.

“Our girls have hit kind of a rut lately,” said Grzanich, pointing out PCA’s 53-35 loss to Riverdale on Friday and 66-25 loss to Deer Creek on Monday. “They needed to come out tonight and have a game like they did.”

The Lady Eagles (5-3) outrebounded CM&I 43-23 and held the Lady Crusaders to 12-of-66 (18 percent) from the field. Amy Beaugh turned in a solid performance for PCA with seven points, six rebounds and six assists, and Lauren Johnson added seven points and six rebounds.

(B) WC 90, Hazlehurst 64

Jula Pugh scored a team-high 17 points and Warren Central scored 31 points in the first quarter en route to a smashing of Hazlehurst.

Pugh led five players in double figures with Cody Grant scoring 16, Andy Anderton 14, Quinton Jenkins 12 and Chico Hunter 11.

The Vikings (3-1) led 31-11 at the end of the first quarter and were never in danger.

(B) Greenville 76, VHS 67

Four Gators scored in double figures, but Vicksburg couldn’t bounce back from a poor second quarter. The Hornets outscored VHS 26-9 in the second to take a 44-23 halftime lead held on.

Brandon Harper led the Gators (3-2) with 16 points. Cordario Calvin and Darren Wheatley each scored 16 to lead Greenville (2-0).