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Southwest Mississippi Community College

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Bears fall at top-ranked Northwest Florida State

By: Michael D. Gunnell, Southwest Sports Information
Jay Malone

Men's Basketball | 11/17/2018 11:05:00 PM

The Bears started the game strong, but were unable to keep up the pace as they dropped their first game of the season, 105-72, to the top-ranked Northwest Florida State College Raiders in Niceville, FL, in the final day of the Bruce Stewart Classic.
 
Behind an Atticus Taylor trey and Avery Diggs' layup, the Bears took an early 5-0 lead over their hosts. Diggs' layup with 14:50 left in the first half gave the Bears their largest lead of the game, 16-9.
 
After the Raiders (7-0) came back to knot the game at 18-all, a Jay Malone long-range jumper put the Bears back on top, 21-18, with 12:05 on the clock.
 
The teams traded baskets for the next several minutes before the Bears took their final lead of the night, 35-34 on a Lincoln Smith layup with 5:32 on the clock. The Raiders then scored the next nine points to go on top 43-35 with 3:27 left before the end of the half.
 
The Raiders took their largest lead of the half, 51-37, with 0:44 on the clock. Malone nailed a three pointer just before the end of the half to leave them with a 51-40 deficit going into the locker room at intermission.
 
The Raiders scored the first seven points of the second half to extend their lead to 58-40 with 17:25 left in the game and the Bears would be unable to narrow the gap any closer than 14 points the rest of the way. The Raiders took their largest lead of the night, 84-48, with 9:32 to go and they went on to get the 33-point win.
 
"Northwest is really good, they're the best team in the country" said Bears head coach Bryan Bender. "They are incredibly gifted, 1-5, and their next five, the same thing."
 
"We played really hard the first few minutes," Bender continued, "(Then) we ran out gas a little bit. We were top ten in the country in assists going into (tonight) and I think we had five (tonight). That's showing that our guys are trying to do a little bit on their own. We took some good shots early and then we started taking some bad shots and all of a sudden a lead that was seven points went to non-existent and all of a sudden we were down 14 points."
 
"It's a good learning experience to play in an arena like this (and) playing four games in six days," Bender concluded. "This simulates what we're going to face in February and March (in) the state tournament and regional tournament. (Northwest) is the best team in the country so we see what we have to do to compete on the national level."
 
Malone led the Bears' offense with 19 points in the game. Smith had a double-double with 14 points and 10 rebounds while Diggs scored 13 points. The Bears made 11 of 16 free throws.
 
The Raiders' Trey Diggs led all scorers with 20 points. He and his teammates went 8-13 at the free throw line.
 
After taking time off for Thanksgiving, the Bears return to the court on November 29 when they travel to Moorhead to face the Mississippi Delta Trojans.
 
 
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Players Mentioned

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
Avery Diggs

#25 Avery Diggs

C
6' 10"
Sophomore

Players Mentioned

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
Avery Diggs

#25 Avery Diggs

6' 10"
Sophomore
C