WESSON — If there was a word to describe the Bears' play during Thursday's conference opener at Co-Lin, resilient may be the most accurate.
 
Southwest battled back from deficits of at least six points on four different occasions including one with just over 6:00 to go in regulation before forcing two overtimes and pulling out a 95-89 win over the Wolves in the MACCC Conference opener. The win marked the fourth-consecutive for the Bears.
 
"There seems to be a lot of those (thrillers) against Co-Lin," said an exhausted Southwest head coach Corey Schmidt following the game. "This was back-to-back years of overtime against Co-Lin. This was a back-and-forth game. They made some big-time shots and I thought that our guys did an amazing job responding, staying together and staying tough."
 
Many fans jam-packed Mullen Gymnasium with many rooting on Southwest including the Bear baseball team who sat behind the home bench and fired up their fellow Southwest student athletes.
 
"We had our whole baseball team here and I can't say thank you enough to Coach (Jack) Edmonson! That's incredible! That's incredible for him to bring the whole baseball team up here at a road game. We had a ton of people behind us as well and you felt the energy when we made plays. I was super-happy about that."
 
The Bears (10-6, 1-0) came out swinging right out of the gate. Hami Ndiaye and Josh Schonback both splashed-in 3-pointers before LeVionne Lindsey joined the fray with a basket giving Southwest a quick 8-0 advantage.
 
But the momentum was short-lived as the Wolves mounted a comeback. The hosts rallied to take a 20-13 advantage. And even though Southwest battled back and pulled within two following a make from Robert Flantroy at the 11:19 mark of the first half, Co-Lin rallied once more to maintain its lead.
 
As the first half wore on, Southwest stayed within striking distance and its perseverance paid off as a Ndiaye make with 3:08 to go gave the Bears a 35-33 lead. Flantroy closed out the  period with a field goal at the buzzer putting the Bears up 39-37 at the half.
 
In the early stages of the second half, Co-Lin grabbed a 3-point lead at 46-43. But Tylik Weeks helped lead a Bear comeback with five points over a 1:30 span helping Southwest pull even at 48.
 
The Bears lost the momentum once more and trailed by as much as six at 55-49 with about 13:00 to go, however, they displayed a their resilience and rallied.
 
The turning point of the second half came with just under 7:00 to go in regulation. After a Ndiaye basket was answered with one from Co-Lin, the Bears rattled-off 10 of the next 12 points highlighted by makes from Weeks which acted as bookends to the run.
 
As Southwest held a 79-76 lead with just under a minute to go, their hopes of pulling out the win in regulation were dashed as Co-Lin connected on a 3-pointer and forced overtime.
 
After both teams went back and forth in the extra frame, a second overtime period was needed and even though they were tired, the Bears never quit.
 
With :40 to go and Southwest clinging to a 90-89 advantage, the Wolves went with a full-court press on defense and while Lindsey and Fazl Oshodi both had to battle the smothering defense, Tylik Weeks managed to get the ball and capitalized with an emphatic dunk causing the Bear fans to cheer loudly and make their presence known.
 
"I was in the corner and when Fazl had the ball in the middle I really wanted an alley (oop), but I cut and I had to dunk," said Weeks who added that teammate Shomari Jenkins predicted his dunk beforehand.
 
The dunk put Southwest up 92-89 and one more basket by Weeks :28 later helped give the Bears the win.
 
Weeks led the Bears, posting a double-double with 30 points and 10 rebounds to go along with six assists. Lindsey recorded 13 points while Ndiaye and Jaylen Haliburton each had 12.
 
Southwest returns home for a 7:30 p.m. contest on Tuesday against East Mississippi.