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Southwest Mississippi Community College

Scoreboard

Bears defeat visiting Jones County, 94-87

By: Michael D. Gunnell, Southwest Sports Information
Emanuel Thompson

Men's Basketball | 2/16/2016 8:40:00 AM

The Bears closed out their final home game of the season, and remained firmly in the hunt for a playoff berth, with a 94-87 win over MACJC South Division foe Jones County Monday night.
 
The win put the Bears at 13-8 overall and, at 8-5, into a fourth-place tie with East Central. Jones County dropped to 14-6 and, 9-4.
 
The Bears will face East Central in Decatur Thursday night in the regular season finale with the winner advancing to next week's state tournament.
 
The first half Monday night featured four ties and 13 lead changes as neither team could gain firm control of the contest. The Bears took an early 3-0 lead on a
Bryce Baker three pointer before Jones County quickly responded to go up 7-3 with 17:23 left in the half.
 
An Emanuel Thompson three pointer had the Bears on top 16-14 with 12:22 on the clock, but Jones County wasted little time in regaining the lead, 17-16, with 12:01 showing.

A pair of Mario Doyle free throws put the Bears up 24-23 with 9:13 to play in the half. But, Jones County would answer with six straight points to take a 29-24 lead with 7:34 on the clock.
 
Down 38-29, with 4:23 before the end of the half, the Bears would once again find their offense. Terrell Miller's three pointer narrowed the Bears' deficit to 46-42 with 1:02 on the clock and Lafayette Rutledge would make it 46-44 with 0:23 left. Jones County's Maurice Dunlap would then nail a bucket with 0:02 on the clock to send the Bears into the locker room trailing 48-44.
 
The Bears came out on fire in the second half, outscoring Jones County 21-9 in the first 6:39. Baker's three pointer started the scoring spree and put the Bears up 49-48 with 18:37 left in the game. A pair of Thompson free throws then gave the Bears a 65-57 advantage with 13:21 to go.
 
But, Jones County still had plenty of fight left in them as they scored eight of the next 13 points to pull back to within a point, 70-69, with 9:37 left in the game. The Bears responded by scoring the next seven points to go back up by eight, 77-69, with 7:33 to play.
 
Leading 77-73, with 6:21 to go, the Bears then scored 13 of the next 20 points and took their biggest lead of the night, 90-80, on a James Hawthorne jumper with 1:38 left.
 
Jones County cut the Bears' lead to 92-87 with 0:21 to play. But the Bears sealed the deal when Chris McIntosh hit a pair of free three throws to up the score to 94-87 with only 0:19 on the clock and the Bears went on to win by the same score.
 
"We made a huge push at the end of the first half," said Bears' top man Thomas Gray. "Our guys rallied and got to within two (points). Yes, they (Jones County) got a shot at the buzzer (to end the half), but I felt like momentum was on our side."
 
"Fortunately, we came out in the second half (and) made a couple of big shots and got a couple of big stops," Gray continued. "We knew coming into this that stops were going to lead to scoring. We made some stops, took the lead and kept pushing."

Miller recorded his seventh double-double of the season, with 27 points and 13 rebounds, to top all players in the game. Thompson was close behind with 26 points and eight boards while Rutledge also scored in double figures with 13 points. The Bears made 19 of 25 free throws.
 
Tristin Walley led Jones County with 24 points. The Bobcats made 21 of 30 free throws.
 
Speaking of Thursday night's contest at East Central, Gray said, "The thing that we've got to be focused on is not playing tight and not making it a bigger deal than it already is; just going out there and playing our game."
 
"East Central's probably going to have a packed gym (and) they're going to be coming at us. We've just got to be ready to play, but not make the moment too big."
 
Tipoff Thursday night is scheduled for 7:30.
 
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Players Mentioned

Terrell Miller

#1 Terrell Miller

F
6' 8"
Sophomore
James Hawthorne

#2 James Hawthorne

F
6' 7"
Freshman
Lafayette Rutledge

#3 Lafayette Rutledge

G
5' 11"
Sophomore
Chris McIntosh

#5 Chris McIntosh

G/F
6' 4"
Sophomore
Mario Doyle

#14 Mario Doyle

G
6' 1"
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
James Hawthorne

#2 James Hawthorne

6' 7"
Freshman
F
Lafayette Rutledge

#3 Lafayette Rutledge

5' 11"
Sophomore
G
Chris McIntosh

#5 Chris McIntosh

6' 4"
Sophomore
G/F
Mario Doyle

#14 Mario Doyle

6' 1"
Freshman
G
Emanuel Thompson

#21 Emanuel Thompson

6' 4"
Freshman
G/F
Bryce Baker

#23 Bryce Baker

6' 5"
Freshman
G/F