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Southwest Mississippi Community College

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Bears defeat Gulf Coast State, 88-68

By: Michael D. Gunnell, Southwest Sports Information
Damian Dear

Men's Basketball | 11/16/2018 7:46:00 PM

After another somewhat sluggish first half, the Bears came out with a vengeance in the second half to defeat the Gulf Coast State College Commodores 88-68 Friday night in Niceville, FL, on the first day of the Bruce Stewart Classic. The win kept the Bears perfect on the season at 5-0.
 
After falling behind 6-0 early in the game, the Bears pulled to within 9-7 on an Atticus Taylor free throw with 15:55 left in the first half.
 
After seeing the Commodores (4-2) go up 15-7, an Arturro Bingham dunk capped an 11-3 run to pull the Bears even, 18-18, with 9:41 on the clock. The Commodores again answered the Bears' run, scoring seven of the next nine points, to take a 25-19 advantage with 8:09 to play before the break.
 
The Bears took their first lead of the night, 28-27, on a TJ Ben layup with 4:44 on the clock. But, the Commodores would outscore the Bears 7-4 to end the half and take a 34-32 lead into the locker room.
 
With a pair of free throws from Avery Diggs and Taylor serving as bookends, and a Jay Malone layup in between, the Bears opened the second half on fire, outscoring the Commodores 11-0 to take a 43-34 lead with 17:16 left in the game.
 
The Commodores then regained their composure to outscore the Bears 12-2 over the next 3:31 to regain the lead, 46-45, with 13:45 remaining.
 
The next 5:40 belonged to the Bears. A 23-6 run, capped by a Damian Dear jumper, left the Bears on top 68-52 with 8:05 still to play.
 
With the Commodores coming no closer than 14 points, the Bears would not be seriously challenged the remainder of the game. A three pointer, with 1:08 on the clock, gave the Bears their largest lead of the night, 86-64, and they went on to claim the win by 20 points.
 
"That was our worst shooting percentage in the first half," said Bears head coach Bryan Bender-the Bears were outshot 46.7% to 34.4%. "(But) I don't know if it's considered sluggish. Our guys play hard and they compete, but sometimes it takes time for the game flow to happen."
 
"As a team, our goal is to wear the other team down. What you've seen every game this year is that our second halves have been amazing and when that happens it's because we (do) wear other teams down with our depth. We have 11 players and they all played at least 10 minutes tonight and they all played hard and they competed and they all did their jobs. And, when they go in there and do their jobs, we have success on the scoreboard and individually."
 
Dear scored a career-high 17 points for the Bears to lead all scorers in the game. Taylor netted 15 points Diggs and Malone were also in double figures with 12 and 10 points, respectively. Lincoln Smith led the Bears on the boards with 13 rebounds.
 
The Bears were nearly perfect from the free throw line, making 23 of 27.
 
Cameron Holden scored 14 points to lead the Commodores' offense. He and his teammates combined to go 17-26 at the three throw line.
 
The Bears have little time to reflect on their win as they close out the Classic Saturday night at 7:30 against the host Northwest Florida State College Raiders; the Raiders are currently ranked 1st in the NJCAA Top 20 poll.
 
 
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Players Mentioned

TJ Ben

#21 TJ Ben

G
6' 4"
Sophomore
Damian Dear

#5 Damian Dear

G
6' 0"
Freshman
Jay Malone

#10 Jay Malone

G
6' 1"
Redshirt Freshman
Atticus Taylor

#14 Atticus Taylor

G/F
6' 7"
Freshman
Lincoln Smith

#15 Lincoln Smith

F
6' 5"
Freshman
Arturro Bingham

#22 Arturro Bingham

G
6' 4"
Freshman
Avery Diggs

#25 Avery Diggs

C
6' 10"
Sophomore

Players Mentioned

TJ Ben

#21 TJ Ben

6' 4"
Sophomore
G
Damian Dear

#5 Damian Dear

6' 0"
Freshman
G
Jay Malone

#10 Jay Malone

6' 1"
Redshirt Freshman
G
Atticus Taylor

#14 Atticus Taylor

6' 7"
Freshman
G/F
Lincoln Smith

#15 Lincoln Smith

6' 5"
Freshman
F
Arturro Bingham

#22 Arturro Bingham

6' 4"
Freshman
G
Avery Diggs

#25 Avery Diggs

6' 10"
Sophomore
C