Just two days prior, the Bears had a rough night as they were edged by Delgado in New Orleans. However, that was not the case Thursday night in the non-conference finale against Hinds as the Bears controlled the game from the jump before walking away with an 78-63 win.
"We do a really good job of responding and not letting things linger," Southwest head coach Corey Schmidt said. "We didn't play well the other night and our guys knew that we needed to play better. It started with yesterday's practice and they were ready to go yesterday, they understood the challenge ahead and understood the game plan and they really attacked."
The Bears (9-6) set the tone early on defense limiting the visiting Bulldogs to just one made basket through the first 6:00 of play. Offensively Southwest displayed a balanced attack. Shortly before the halfway point of the first half, Jahshawne Joseph knocked down his second and third 3-pointers on the evening, the latter of which coming at the 11:55 mark, giving the Bears a 23-5 advantage.
Not long afterward, Hinds went on a bit of a run to pull within nine at 28-19. But it was answered with a 13-0 Southwest run which included two more makes from Joseph.
"Ball movement, playing together…we are just executing, running what coach gives us," said Joseph who finished with a team-high 20 points.
TJ Wiley helped Southwest finish the half strong with two free throws and a basket helping give the Bears a 45-23 lead at the break.
In the early stages of the second half, both teams engaged in a back-and-forth battle. Despite the Bulldogs finding more consistency and more of a rhythm in their game, the Bears answered right back to maintain their sizable lead.
Around the midway point of the half, Daylen Thomas began to find his stroke, knocking down a pair of baskets pushing the Southwest lead to 27 at 70-43.
At the 7:16 mark, the game was slightly delayed due to one of the rims getting bent. Following a brief lull in action, Hinds went of a 7-2 run to inch closer, but Southwest responded with a 7-0 run of its own to maintain its double-digit lead before eventually solidifying the win.
Like Joseph, both Weeks and Deon Brown finished in double figures in scoring with 14 and 12 points, respectively.
After the game, Coach Schmidt gave praise to some of his guys such as Thomas, Joe Haze Austin and Isaiah Morey for their level of play and the contributions that they bring even if it doesn't show up on the stat sheet.
He added that now the focus shifts towards conference play and how it is like a whole new season beginning.
"This is what everything has been gearing up for," he said. "This is why we played all of those Top-10 teams, this is why we went on those long bus trips, it is getting ready for conference play. We have to win conference in order to get where we want to. All of our guys know that, they know the task at hand and they know it starts next week."
The Bears return to action on Thursday, kicking off MACCC Conference Play with a 7:30 p.m. road contest at Northwest Mississippi.
