Despite a late push by the visiting Southern-Shreveport Jaguars on Monday's Day 1 of the 2024 Coca-Cola Classic, the Bears held on in the end winning 87-78.
 
Even though his team picked up the win, Southwest head coach Corey Schmidt said that there is plenty of room for improvement.
 
"The whole game plan, everything we talked about in practice and in scout and preparation was that they (Southern-Shreveport) force a log of turnovers," Schmidt said. "I think that they force over 28 turnovers a game coming into tonight. I don't know if I have every been more disappointed in a win. Just not understanding the game plan, not understanding what we are trying to do, and it was just a very, very frustrating night."
 
Even though the Bears (3-4) grabbed the lead early on and never relinquished it, the Jaguars hung around and stayed within striking distance. Through the first 10:00 of play, the largest lead for Southwest was 12 points at 16-4 but Shreveport got into rhythm and closed the gap.
 
With just over 8:00 to go in the first half, Fazl Oshodi made his presence known with 3-pointers on back-to-back possessions helping the Bears build upon a one-point advantage, pushing the lead back to seven at 29-22.
 
"I was in my groove," Oshodi said. "LeVionne Lindsey is a great point guard, and he found me. I was in rhythm."
 
The Bears found new life down the stretch in the first half, building a lead as great as 14 points and finished the half with that same margin, taking. 46-32 lead into the locker room at the half.
 
Southwest watched its lead slip a bit to as little as nine in the early stages of the second half. But key makes from Tylik Weeks and Jaylen Haliburton helped keep the Bears ahead.
 
Weeks flexed his muscle offensively showing his skills as an outside shooter and his speed, driving to the hoop on isolation plays.
 
"We had a mismatch, I learned that we had a size advantage," said. Weeks. "They were using 1-on-1 so I am going to take advantage of that, use my moves, get to my spot and make buckets."
 
Even though the Southwest offense was mostly clicking, turnovers haunted the Bears as it kept the Jaguars within striking distance.
 
Despite this, the Bears locked in down the stretch and pulled out the win.
 
Weeks led the Bears with 26 points while Oshodi had 20.
 
Southwest will be right back at in on Tuesday as it hosts Baton Rouge at 7:30 p.m. on Day 2 of the Coca-Cola Classic.