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Southwest Mississippi Community College

Scoreboard

Bears hold off Meridian, 84-76

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

Men's Basketball | 2/3/2020 10:35:00 PM

The Bears withstood a strong second-half challenge by MACJC South Division foe Meridian to secure an 84-76 win at home Monday night.

The win, their third in a row and fifth in the last six games, left the Bears with a 12-6 overall mark and 6-3 in the South. Meridian fell to 7-11, 2-7.
 
A Damian Dear layup and Jalon Andrews dunk gave the Bears an early 4-0 lead in the contest.
 
Meridian would score 12 of the next 18 points to tie the game at 12-12 with 14:48 on the clock.
 
The Bears then began firing on all cylinders as a Goodnews Kpegeol jumper and Dear trey served as bookends to a 22-2 run that gave the Bears their largest lead of the game, 34-14, with 8:46 showing.
 
A 10-2 Meridian run cut the Bears' lead to 36-25 with 4:42 left in the half. The Bears then outscored the visitors 10-4 to extend their lead to 46-29 with under 1:00 on the clock and they would take a 46-31 lead into intermission.
 
Meridian came out on fire in the second half, outscoring the Bears 23-11 in the first 8:27 to pull to within 57-54 with 11:33 left in the game.
 
With 10:06 still to play, Drelon Pittman nailed a three pointer to push the Bears' lead to 62-56.
 
A 16-8 run by the Bears later in the half extended their lead back to double digits, 73-62, with under 5:00 still to play.
 
Meridian would then score 12 of the next 18 points to pull back to within five points, 79-74, with 2:00 on the clock. That would be as close as they would get the rest of the way, however, as the Bears held on for the win.
 
"We found a way to win," said Bears head coach Bryan Bender. "It wasn't pretty (but) no win really ever is, especially here at Southwest."
 
"We shot the ball really well in the first half and really shared the ball," Bender continued. "Then when they (Meridian) picked up their pressure and junked up the game it kind of messed with the game flow a little bit. A couple of costly turnovers led to dunks for them. But, for us, 1-3-1 won us the game in the second half. Goodnews, Drelon, Damian all played spectacular games from start to finish and really helped us on the scoreboard and got us a win."
 
Dear led all scorers with 23 points in the game while Kpegeol scored 21. Andrews and Pittman were also in double figures with 12 and 10 points, respectively. The Bears made 20 of 28 free throws.
 
Justin Brown paced the Meridian offense with 17 points. He and his teammates were 14-19 at the free throw line.

The Bears are home again for their next game, hosting Mississippi Gulf Coast on February 6 in South Division play. The game is scheduled for a 7:15 tipoff.
 
 
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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