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Southwest Mississippi Community College

Scoreboard

2nd half rally not enough as Bears fall at Northwest

By: Michael D. Gunnell, Southwest Sports Information
Goodnews Kpegeol
Northwest CC Sports Information

Men's Basketball | 11/15/2019 6:33:00 AM

Box Score A furious second-half rally was not enough for the Bears Thursday night as they were defeated by the host Northwest Mississippi Rangers, 88-78.
 
Falling behind early, the Bears took a 9-7 lead on a Drelon Pittman layup with 11:39 left in the first half.
 
Scoring 10 straight points, the Rangers then regained the lead, 17-9, with 9:50 on the clock.
 
A 15-2 scoring streak, ended by a Goodnews Kpegeol three-pointer, then extended the Rangers' lead to 32-14 with 6:02 left before halftime. They went on to take a 45-27 advantage into the locker room at intermission.
 
With 17:30 left in the second half, the Rangers (3-1) found themselves on top 52-32. It was then the Bears began their rally.
 
The Bears' Damian Dear scored 10 of the next 13 points in the game to pull his team to within 55-42 with 15:15 left to play.
 
After the Rangers added four points to move out to a 59-42 lead, the Bears went on a tear. With a Jalon Andrews layup and Rodgers trey serving as bookends, the Bears outscored their hosts 27-14 to draw within four points, 73-69, with 5:21 still to play.
 
That, unfortunately, would be as close as the Bears would get as the Rangers would go on to record the 10-point win.
 
"I tip my hat to Northwest for shooting the lights out in the first half," said Bears head coach Bryan Bender. "They made contested shots after contested shot and we couldn't buy a basket to save our lives."
 
"Our team showed a lot of resilience," Bender continued, "and battled back from as many as 21 (points behind) to cut it to 4 in the final few minutes. Spencer came alive and had a season-high 27 points" including 7 three-pointers. "Our defensive intensity picked up in the second half and helped create some offense. We are at our best when we play fast and get stops to score. I'm proud of our guys for not quitting and playing hard, but it's tough to not shoot the ball well and beat a good team on the road."
 
Rodgers' 27 points led all scorers. Kpegeol and Dear also scored in double figures with 14 and 12 points, respectively. The Bears (3-2) made 16 of 23 free throws.
 
Jakobi Pearson topped the Rangers' offense with 25 points. He and his teammates combined to go 17-24 from the free throw line.
 
The Bears make their home debut on November 18 when they host the Southern-Shreveport Jaguars in the final game of day one of the Southwest/Coca-Cola Classic. Tipoff is scheduled for 7:15.
 
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Players Mentioned

Jalon Andrews

#2 Jalon Andrews

F/C
6' 8"
Sophomore
Damian Dear

#5 Damian Dear

G
6' 0"
Sophomore
Drelon Pittman

#0 Drelon Pittman

G/F
6' 4"
Redshirt Freshman
Goodnews Kpegeol

#12 Goodnews Kpegeol

G/F
6' 6"
Redshirt Freshman

Players Mentioned

Jalon Andrews

#2 Jalon Andrews

6' 8"
Sophomore
F/C
Damian Dear

#5 Damian Dear

6' 0"
Sophomore
G
Drelon Pittman

#0 Drelon Pittman

6' 4"
Redshirt Freshman
G/F
Goodnews Kpegeol

#12 Goodnews Kpegeol

6' 6"
Redshirt Freshman
G/F