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Southwest Mississippi Community College

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Deville Smith
Mitch Deaver

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

Second-half rally falls short for Bears

 
A second-half rally fell short for the Bears Thursday night as they went down 71-62 at Pearl River. The Southwest Lady Bears’ four-game winning streak came to a screeching halt in Poplarville as Pearl River overcame a 10-point second-half deficit to win 56-55.
 
Southwest stays on the road Tuesday as they travel to Utica to face Hinds Community College. Game times are 6:00 for the ladies and 8:00 for the men.
 
Taking an early 2-0 lead on Deville Smith’s jumper with 19:31 left in the half, the Bears (7-7, 1-3) stayed on top for the first 4:52 of the game before Pearl River (12-1, 4-0) pulled ahead 12-10 with 15:08 before the half. The Wildcats extended their lead to 10 points, 29-19, with 4:28 on the clock before settling for a 33-26 halftime advantage.
 
Southwest seemed destined for a blowout loss early in the second half as the Wildcats went up 46-31 on a Daniel Grieves layup with 15:36 left in the game.
 
Trailing 53-37 with 11:42 left to play, the Bears showed they still had some fight left in them. Going on a 23-9 run, capped by a Smith jumper with 2:44 remaining, Southwest came back to within two points, 62-60.But, victory was not in the cards for the Bears as Pearl River closed out the game on a 9-2 run of their own to take the win and remain undefeated in the MACJC South Division.
 
“I’m extremely proud of our approach, effort and (the) unselfishness we played with tonight,” said Bears’ head man Casey Carter. “This season is a long journey and if we compete for the rest of the year like we did tonight, it will end up being a successful year.”
 
“We had the ball, down two, with an opportunity to win,” Carter went on, “and that’s all you can ask for. We didn’t make the most of that opportunity and, hopefully, next time we will.”
 
Mark Bridgewater led three Bears in double figures with 15 points in the game. Smith added 13 points while Devin Flowers had 11. Donovan Ross and Corey Williams both registered nine points while Deione Weeks had five. Southwest hit nine of 14 free throws.
 
Pearl River’s Xavier Rimmer led all scorers with 19 points. The Wildcats made 14 of 16 free throws.
         
 
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