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Southwest Mississippi Community College

Scoreboard

Bears go down, 79-74, in overtime

By: Michael D. Gunnell, Southwest Sports Information
Terrell Miller
Chuck Barnes

Men's Basketball | 1/26/2016 6:58:00 AM

Monday night proved to be a tough one for the Bears as they suffered a 79-74 overtime defeat at the hands of the visiting East Central Warriors. The game marked the end of the first half of MACJC South Division play.
 
The loss dropped the Bears to 9-6 overall and in sole possession of second place in the Division with a 4-3 mark. East Central climbed to 10-6 and, at 5-2, into a four-way tie for first place (with Gulf Coast, Pearl River and Jones County).
 
Lafayette Rutledge's three-pointer gave the Bears an early 3-0 lead and they led 9-0 before East Central made it 9-2 with 15:29 left in the half. After Guy Johnson's three-pointer made it 12-2, East Central went on an 8-0 run to pull back to within two points, 12-10, with 11:55 on the clock. Emanuel Thompson's three-pointer ended the run and put the Bears back up by five, 15-10, with 11:51 to go before the break.
 
Following Thompson's trey, the visitors then went on a 14-2 scoring spree and took a 24-17 lead with 4:56 on the clock.  A pair of Rutledge free throws made the score 30-28 with 0:38 showing, but East Central would score the final five points of the half to take a 35-28 lead into the locker room.
 
Back-to-back three-pointers by Bryce Baker had the Bears trailing only by a point, 35-34, with 18:22 left in the game. But, East Central outscored the Bears 14-6 over the next 5:24 to increase their lead to 49-40 with 12:58 remaining.
 
LeDerrius Simmons' trey with 10:10 left in the game had the Bears down 49-47, but a 10-3 run by the visitors again put them up by nine, 59-50, with 5:54 to go.
 
An 11-4 run by the Bears, capped by Johnson's three, narrowed their deficit to 63-61 with 2:39 on the clock.
 
Trailing 66-61, with 1:47 left in regulation, the Bears had the home crowd on its feet as they scored six of the next seven points and tied the score at 67-67 on Terrell Miller's jumper with 0:05 on the clock. East Central was unable to fire off a possible game-winning shot and the game went into extra play.
 
Miller nailed a three-pointer to put the Bears up 70-67 less than 1:00 into the overtime and Baker's bucket made it 72-68 with 3:54 on the clock.
 
After East Central scored three points to make the score 72-71, Thompson's jumper had the Bears on top 74-71 with 2:57 left. That, unfortunately, proved to be the last points the Bears would score as East Central closed out the extra period on an 8-0 run to escape with the five-point victory.
 
"I was proud of our guys' effort tonight," said second-year Bears' head coach Thomas Gray. "Over the past two games, we have had to play a few guys out of position and more minutes due to injuries (to Rodrick Sikes and Joseph Coleman) and tonight, even though it was rough at times, I felt like we made progress."
 
"We came out with great attention to detai and sharp focus at the start of the game," Gray wen to. "But, somewhere in that first half it dropped off. I thought our response in the second half put us right where we needed to be, but foul trouble and missed free throws were too tough to overcome in the overtime, even though we had a four-point lead after the first minutes."
 
Miller topped the Bears' offense with 23 points. Rutledge netted 17 points while Baker finished the game with 13 and Thompson with 10. The Bears hit eight of 14 free throws.
 
East Central's Prince McDaniel led all scorers with 29 points. The visitors made 19 of 32 free throws.
 
The Bears open the second half of South Division play Thursday night as they face the Pearl River Wildcats in Poplarville. The game is set for a 7:30 start.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
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Players Mentioned

Terrell Miller

#1 Terrell Miller

F
6' 8"
Sophomore
Lafayette Rutledge

#3 Lafayette Rutledge

G
5' 11"
Sophomore
LeDerrius Simmons

#4 LeDerrius Simmons

G
5' 8"
Sophomore
Guy Johnson

#11 Guy Johnson

G
6' 0"
Freshman
Emanuel Thompson

#21 Emanuel Thompson

G/F
6' 4"
Freshman
Bryce Baker

#23 Bryce Baker

G/F
6' 5"
Freshman

Players Mentioned

Terrell Miller

#1 Terrell Miller

6' 8"
Sophomore
F
Lafayette Rutledge

#3 Lafayette Rutledge

5' 11"
Sophomore
G
LeDerrius Simmons

#4 LeDerrius Simmons

5' 8"
Sophomore
G
Guy Johnson

#11 Guy Johnson

6' 0"
Freshman
G
Emanuel Thompson

#21 Emanuel Thompson

6' 4"
Freshman
G/F
Bryce Baker

#23 Bryce Baker

6' 5"
Freshman
G/F