Skip To Main Content

Southwest Mississippi Community College

Scoreboard

Bears prevail over Gulf Coast, 70-63, for 4th straight win

By: Michael D. Gunnell, Southwest Sports Information
Drelon Pittman
Chuck Barnes

Men's Basketball | 2/6/2020 10:28:00 PM

The Bears moved into sole possession of  2nd place in the MACJC's South Division Thursday night as they defeated the visiting Mississippi Gulf Coast Bulldogs, 70-63, before a packed house.
 
With the win, their fourth in a row and sixth in seven games, the Bears ended the night with a 13-6 overall mark and 7-3 record in the South. Gulf Coast fell to 14-4 and 6-4.
 
The game was tight for a large portion of the first half with four ties and one lead change in the first 5:34.
 
With the Bears trailing 12-10, a Spencer Rodgers trey and Damian Dear layup started a 17-6 run by the Bears. Three free throws and a dunk by Drelon Pittman ended the run and put the Bears on top 27-18 with 8:39 on the clock.
 
Gulf Coast cut the Bears' lead to 29-27 with 6:29 left in the half. But, a pair of treys from Rodgers and nine straight points from Dear sent the Bears into the half on a 16-6 run and a 45-33 advantage.
 
The Bears extended their run to 21-6 with the first five points of the second half and pushed their lead to 17 points, 50-33, with 19:09 left in the game.
 
Gulf Coast scored 10 of the next 12 points to pull to within 54-45 with 13:45 still to play.
 
The Bears then scored six straight, four from Xyshan Jenkins, to push their lead back to double digits, 60-45, with 10:53 on the clock.
 
Gulf Coast would not give in, however, as they outscored the Bears 14-6 to come within 66-59 with 1:59 remaining.
 
That would be as close as Gulf Coast would get, though, as the Bears went on to pick up the win.
 
"We were able to manage the game from start to finish," said Bears head coach Bryan Bender. "We played a really solid game, we played together. We got tougher, we got stops down the stretch, we really rebounded the ball and we found a way to manage the pressure."
 
"We had some big guys come through tonight," Bender went on, "Xyshan was phenomenal. We shared the ball and (we) got on the glass and played together."
 
Jenkins topped the Bears' offense with 16 points. Rodgers followed with 14 points while Dear registered 12 points and Pittman had 10.

The Bears made 16 of 19 free throws.
 
Gulf Coasts' Jayden McCorvey led all scorers with 17 points. He and his teammates combined to make 10 of 22 free throws.
 
The Bears travel to Wesson for their next game as they pay a visit to Co-Lin on February 10. The South Division action is set to get underway at 7:30.
 
 
 
 
Print Friendly Version

Players Mentioned

Damian Dear

#5 Damian Dear

G
6' 0"
Sophomore
Drelon Pittman

#0 Drelon Pittman

G/F
6' 4"
Redshirt Freshman
Xyshan Jenkins

#21 Xyshan Jenkins

G/F
6' 6"
Freshman
Spencer Rodgers

#22 Spencer Rodgers

G
6' 4"
Sophomore

Players Mentioned

Damian Dear

#5 Damian Dear

6' 0"
Sophomore
G
Drelon Pittman

#0 Drelon Pittman

6' 4"
Redshirt Freshman
G/F
Xyshan Jenkins

#21 Xyshan Jenkins

6' 6"
Freshman
G/F
Spencer Rodgers

#22 Spencer Rodgers

6' 4"
Sophomore
G