In what was described as the Southwest Men's most complete game of the season thus far, the Bears grabbed an early lead and never let up, shutting down the visiting Coastal Alabama – South Coyotes, posting a 92-64 home win Thursday.
"Overall, I just thought that we just played a complete game," Southwest head coach Corey Schmidt said. "I was most proud of our guys for being locked in on the game plan.
Schmidt adds that he was very proud of the defensive effort which included limiting the Coyotes' big threat of No. 4 Sheldon Williams, holding the Texas A&M Corpus Christi-signee to just 12 points on the night.
With the win, the Bears (4-3) climb back over .500 with three-consecutive victories this week, erasing a recent tough run with three-consecutive losses.
Early on, the Bears fell behind 3-0 after the Coyotes connected on a 3-pointer but Southwest answered back with six of the next seven points on a pair of 3-pointers from Deon Brown and Jahshawne Joseph.
From there, Southwest would never relinquish the lead.
At about the 13:00 mark, Coastal pulled within 1 at 11-10 but a big 19-0 run by Southwest gave the Bears a comfortable lead. The run consisted of a smothering defense coupled with makes from several Bears including multiple makes from Corey Lombard and Joseph.
Southwest kept pouring it on as the mid-range game from Mark Drone paired well with the 3-point shooting from Brown and the inside presence of Lombard and Tylik Weeks.
Two reserves in Isaiah Morey and Daylen Thomas also got into the act with makes in the closing minutes of the first half.
The Bears led 50-20 at the half.
In the first 5:00 of the second half, Southwest went on another run, this time an 18-4 rally, making it a 68-24 game. Afterward the Bears hit a bit of a snag as the Coyotes went on a run of their own to narrow the gap a bit. Back-to-back makes from Morey consisting of a 3-pointer and a layup put a brief hold on the run but Coastal regained its composure and rallied once again. Not long afterward, the Bears got back into rhythm putting a stop to the visitors' surge.
Down the stretch, both teams went back-and-forth but the damage had already been done as the Bears ran out the clock and walked away with the victory.
Brown led the Bears with 22 points while Lombard set a new career high with 15 points which included his first 3-point basket made in his collegiate career.
"We've been working on it since last year. The progress just got there," said Lombard, while chuckling.
The Bears return to action on Monday Nov. 27 with a 7 p.m. contest at Lee College in Baytown, TX.
