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Southwest Mississippi Community College

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Mikel Henry vs. Southern-Shreveport
Donna Janotta

Men's Basketball Michael D. Gunnell, Southwest Sports Information

Bears overcome 19-point, second-half deficit to stun Southern-Shreveport

Coming back from a 19-point, second-half deficit, the Southwest Bears closed out the opening day of the Southwest/Coca-Cola Classic with a thrilling 69-68 win over the Southern-Shreveport Jags Monday night. The Lady Bears were also victorious, 73-69, over Southern-Shreveport.
 
In the early games, Northwest swept Co-Lin, winning the women’s game 67-62 and the men’s 76-66.
 
The first half of the men’s game provided little hint of what was to come in the second half. A Mark Bridgewater field goal put the Bears (2-2) on top 2-0 with only 14 seconds off the clock. Southwest then pulled out to their biggest lead, 12-7, on Mikel Henry’s bucket with 15:00 left before the half.
 
The Jags (2-3) then turned things around and went on top 17-16 with 10:12 before the break. Outscoring Southwest 24-12 the remainder of the half, the visitors took a 41-28 lead into the locker room.
 
After a Bridgewater three-pointer pulled the Bears back to within nine points, 41-32, with 18:49 left in the game, Southern-Shreveport went on a 16-7 run to go up 57-38 with 10:22 to play.
 
That seemed to ignite a spark in the Bears as, with a still-enthusiastic home crowd behind them, they slowly began their comeback. Refusing to quit, Southwest fought back and, when Quintarius Porter hit one of two free throws, tied the game at 64-64 with 1:53 left in the game.
 
Trading points down the stretch, the teams seemed headed to overtime as the clock wound down toward 0:00. Improbably, as the clock hit all zeros, a foul was called on the Jags and sent Mikel Henry to the free throw line for Southwest. Needing to hit only one of two charity shots for the win, Henry nailed the first one to end the 31-11 run and complete the comeback.
 
“Obviously, I’m excited for the guys that we were able to finish such an exciting game,” said Southwest head coach Casey Carter. “When things were not going good at all, somehow we were able to come together and finally play the way we want to and completely turn a game around.”
 
“However,” Carter went on, “we can’t forget the first 30 minutes. If we don’t play with energy, and as a team, we’re not very good and that showed tonight. It’s a process and we’ve got to continue to get better in a lot of areas. I’m really proud of Mikel Henry, stepping into a more important role tonight, and Christopher Lawrence made some huge impact plays at the end.”
 
Bridgewater led the Bears’ offense with 20 point on the night. Donovan Ross and Henry were also in double figures with 15 and 12 points, respectively. Lawrence and Porter both scored nine points while Devin Flowers had four. Southwest hit 26 of 34 free throws.
 
A’torri Shine had 24 points for Southern-Shreveport to lead all scorers. The Jags made 10 of 21 free throws.
 
Southwest will play Northwest Tuesday night to close out the Classic with the ladies set for a 5:30 start and the men at 7:30. The early games will feature the Co-Lin and Southern-Shreveport women at 1:30 with the men’s teams scheduled to tip off at 3:30.
         
 
 
  Box Score------
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