After falling on the road at Pearl River Tuesday night, the Southwest Bears got back on the winning track Thursday night with a convincing 83-64 home win over East Central. The Lady Bears were not as fortunate as they dropped a 75-65 decision to the East Central ladies.
With the win, the Southwest men evened their record to 7-7 on the season and 2-1 in the South Division. The Warriors fell to 0-12, 0-3.
The men’s game was close in the early going with neither team leading by more than two points in the first six minutes. After taking a 6-4 lead on Mark Bridgewater basket with 13:51 left in the first half, Southwest slowly began to pull away. A Wesley Blackmon three-pointer gave the Bears their first double-digit lead, 29-17, with 5:18 left in the half and two Mikel Henry free throws put the hosts up 47-30 at the break.
The second half belonged to Southwest. Dunks by Bridgewater and Brannon along with a Cory Lacy layup propelled the Bears to a 53-32 lead with 17:12 left in the game and East Central failed to provide a serious challenge the rest of the way, coming no closer than 14 points (57-43) at the 13:54 mark.
“I’m really proud of our guys (for) responding after a tough loss Tuesday night at Pearl River,” said Southwest head coach Casey Carter. “We had a good day of practice (Wednesday), with a lot of energy and focus, and they were able to translate that over to tonight.”
“We must continue to take care of our home floor (the Bears are 6-2 at home) and find a way to steal one (a win) on the road and we’ll try to start doing that Monday at Gulf Coast.”
Bridgewater scored 14 points to lead to Bears’ offense on the night, but left the game in the second half after suffering a sprained ankle. Carter said the freshman guard would undergo treatment tomorrow and Sunday and his playing status would be day-to-day.
Also in double figures in scoring were Michael Hall and Lacy with 13 and 11 points, respectively. Josh Brannon, Blackmon and Henry all scored eight points and Brannon added 11 rebounds. Christopher Lawrence added seven points while Devin Flowers netted six. Parker Moore and Neil Quin both chipped in three points and LeMichael Quin had two. The Bears made 19 of 25 free throws.
Jimmie Broomfield led East Central with 20 points. The Warriors made good on 10 of 23 free throws.
