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Southwest Mississippi Community College

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Visiting Gulf Coast defeats Bears, 67-65

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

Men's Basketball | 1/14/2019 10:19:00 PM

The Bears saw their five-game winning streak come to an end Monday night with a narrow 67-65 MACJC South Division loss at home to the Mississippi Gulf Coast Bulldogs.
 
With a pair of ties and six lead changes in the first half alone, the game was tight from beginning to end.
 
Down 4-3 early, the Bears outscored the Bulldogs 14-7 to go up 17-9 and took a 20-13 lead on an Arturro Bingham three pointer with 11:06 left in the first half.
 
The teams would trade baskets for several minutes before a pair of Jay Malone free throws gave the Bears (10-2, 2-1) a 32-31 advantage with 2:58 left in the half. Gulf Coast would go on to outscore the Bears 5-2 to end the half and take a 36-34 lead into the locker room at halftime.
 
An 8-0 to open the second half gave Gulf Coast its biggest lead of the night, 45-37, with 15:01 left in the second half.
 
But, the Bears were not ready to call it quits just yet, going on a 16-4 run and taking a 53-49 lead on Bingham's trey with 10:38 still to play.
 
After Gulf Coast pulled to within 55-53, the Bears went on an 8-0 run and pulled ahead 61-55 on Malone's old-fashioned three-point play with 6:33 to go.
 
Gulf Coast then found its rhythm and outscored the Bears 12-4 to go up 67-65 with 0:33 on the clock. The Bears had one last opportunity to win the game, but, unfortunately a long-range jumper at the buzzer fell just short allowing Gulf Coast to escape with the win.
 
"We settled for a lot of jump shots tonight," said Bears head man Bryan Bender, "and our emphasis was to get to the paint. We hit a couple (jumpers) early so it's almost like fools gold. But, we had to do a better job of attacking the paint."
 
"When we came back in the second half," Bender went on, "we did a good job of attacking the paint-driving (and) kicking and scoring inside. We never really could get the ball inside tonight and that was a little bit of an issue. But, at the end of the day, you've got to be able to make plays."
 
Malone scored 22 points for the Bears to lead all scorers while Bingham totaled 15 points. The Bears made 16 of 20 free throws.
 
Gulf Coast was led by LaRaymond Spivery's 14 points. He and his teammates hit 12 of 18 free throws.
 
The Bears hit the road for their next game, heading up Interstate 55 Thursday night to face South Division foe Co-Lin. Tipoff is set for 7:30.
 
 
 
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Players Mentioned

Jay Malone

#10 Jay Malone

G
6' 1"
Redshirt Freshman
Arturro Bingham

#22 Arturro Bingham

G
6' 4"
Freshman

Players Mentioned

Jay Malone

#10 Jay Malone

6' 1"
Redshirt Freshman
G
Arturro Bingham

#22 Arturro Bingham

6' 4"
Freshman
G