The Southwest Bears suffered a particularly tough loss Thursday night as they dropped a 93-88 decision on the road against their arch-rivals, the Co-Lin Wolves. The Lady Bears were defeated 72-54 in the opener.
For the Bears, the loss not only dropped them to 8-10 overall and 3-4 in the MACJC South, it also dropped them to 1-8 on the road and into a tie with Co-Lin (8-9, 3-4) for fourth place in the Division. The top four teams advance to the playoffs.
The Bears seemed in control of things early on as Wesley Blackmon and Mark Bridgewater combined to give them an 8-0 lead with 17:08 to play in the first half. Although Co-Lin would finally get going and pull to within a point, 26-25, with 7:17 on the clock, Southwest maintained the lead and went into the break on top 45-40.
With 10:39 to go in the game, the Bears had extended their lead to 70-59 on a Blackmon free throw and seemed to have matters well in hand. Unfortunately, that proved to be the beginning of the end as Co-Lin went on a 13-1 run to take a 72-71 lead with 7:54 left to play. The Wolves then extended their lead to 91-83 with 0:36 to go and held on for the five-point victory.
"Tonight proves more than ever that it's hard to win on the road," said Southwest head coach Casey Carter. My guys played so hard and gave me everything they had and we have no reason to hang our heads."
"Foul trouble and injuries really impacted how the game played out and that's part of it," Carter continued. Starter Michael Hall played only 12 minutes and backup Mikel Henry only 56 seconds before both were forced out of the contest with ankle injuries.
Carter said "Bridgewater and (Cory) Lacy had to play way too many minutes" because of the injuries, "and that really affected their performance in the last few minutes. We'll take this weekend off and we'll start preparing Monday for a really good Pearl River team coming into our house on Thursday. We really need a great crowd for that game."
Bridgewater topped the Southwest offense, and led all scorers, with 26 points in the game. Lacy was also in double figures, with 19 points, as were Blackmon (17) and Devin Flowers (10). Josh Brannon contributed eight points while Hall had six and Parker Moore two. The Bears were good on 19 of 25 free throws.
LeDarious Davis paced Co-Lin with 21 points. The Wolves hit 26 of 34 free throws.
Southwest is off on Monday and will return to the hardwood next Thursday when they host Pearl River. Game times are 5:00 for the ladies and 7:00 for the men.
