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Southwest Mississippi Community College

Scoreboard

Bears fall at home to 12th ranked Pearl River

By: Michael D. Gunnell, Southwest Sports Information
Atticus Taylor

Men's Basketball | 2/18/2019 10:02:00 PM

The Bears fought to the end, but were unable to overcome the 12th-ranked Pearl River Wildcats as they fell at home 93-83.
 
The game was tight throughout the first half with neither team able to lead by more than six points and four lead changes in the first 2:23.
 
With the Bears trailing 10-6, back-to-back baskets from Damian Dear and Avery Diggs knotted the game at 10-all with 16:15 left in the first half.
 
The Bears took a 23-17 lead with 10:34 on the clock, before Pearl River (20-2, 11-2) came back to go on top 27-26 with 5:56 showing.
 
An Atticus Taylor jumper with 2:09 on the clock cut the Bears' deficit to 34-31. Pearl River took its biggest lead of the half, 39-31, with 1:12 before halftime. A Dear three at the buzzer left the Bears trailing 40-34 at intermission.
 
Pearl River took a 52-43 lead with 16:40 left in the second half. The Bears (12-10, 4-9) refused to give in, however, as they fought back to within 56-53 on Taylor's trey with 13:47 to go.
 
After Pearl River extended their lead to 62-54, the Bears again fought back. Outscoring the visitors 13-6, the Bears cut the Pearl River lead to 68-67 on another Taylor trey, with 8:50 to play.
 
With Pearl River leading 78-71, the Bears scored five of the next six points, pulling to within 79-76 on a pair of Jay Malone free throws with 4:57 still remaining.
 
However, a 9-0 run by Pearl River left the Bears down 88-76 with 1:25 on the clock. Pearl River would go on to claim the 10-point victory.
 
"We never quit, which is good," said Bears head coach Bryan Bender. "We played hard until the end. We made some big time play, offensively, tonight, but at the end of the day it was about defense."
 
"Defense wins championships, defense wins games," Bender continued. "We had to guard the ball a little bit better, we had to make a few stops. At the end of the day, they scored more points than us because we couldn't stop them."
 
Taylor scored 22 points to pace the Bears' attack. Diggs totaled 15 points while Dear netted 11 and Malone scored 10. The Bears made 11 of 17 free throws.
 
Brandon Rachal and Eric Thornton both scored 25 points for Pearl River. They helped their team to make 30 of 40 free throws.

The Bears close out the regular season at home Thursday night when they host South Division foe East Central. Tipoff is set for 7:15.
 
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Players Mentioned

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
Avery Diggs

#25 Avery Diggs

C
6' 10"
Sophomore

Players Mentioned

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
Avery Diggs

#25 Avery Diggs

6' 10"
Sophomore
C