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Southwest Mississippi Community College

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Jaylen Haliburton
Chuck Barnes

Bears overcome slow start to defeat Louisiana Knights, 100-77

After a couple of tough losses in Florida over the weekend, the Bears came into their home opener tonight looking to right the ship. And, right the ship they did as the Bears defeated the Louisiana Knights 100-77, despite a slow start.

Three early turnovers and a back and forth start had the Bears (1-2) with only a slight edge at 5-4 four minutes into the game. Then due to some defensive miscues, the visiting Knights went on a run, taking a 9 point lead on a three pointer from Jayvvn Duncan.

The rest of the game was all Southwest. The Bears immediately responded after that run with a three of their own by sophomore Courterius Scott, who ended the night with 23 points. Then fellow sophomore Leano Rolle followed that with a three of his own. Rolle was the Bears leading scorer on the night with 25 highlighted by a couple rim rocking dunks.

When asked about the slow start and what sparked the change for him personally, Scott said, "It was just me taking my time, letting the game come to me. My teammates were getting me some really good looks from three, we shared the ball really well tonight, and I was just ready to knock them down."
Sophomore Jaylen Haliburton hit two free throws with three seconds left in the half to give the Bears a 48-38 lead with all the momentum on their side.

The start to the second half was the one the Bears were looking for to start the game. A quick three from freshman Cy Merrett opened the scoring. Merrett was in foul trouble most of the first half and only had two points in the first frame, but he poured in nine in the second half to finish with 11.
A couple minutes later Rolle had everyone off their feet with a monster slam on a baseline drive. That was followed up with a steal by Merrett who pitched it ahead for a lay in from Rolle. That run prompted a timeout from the Knights with the score 57-40 Bears.

The Bears never looked back after that. Haliburton showed how the Bears want defense to turn into offense with a steal and slam at the 10 minute mark getting him into double figures. And Rolle put the punctuation on the night getting the Bears over the century mark on a put back dunk where he came charging in from the perimeter to slam it in one handed.

Rolle said on his game and the Bears win, "We wanted to set a tone for the rest of our season. Feed off the home crowd and give them a show. And we all just wanted to do what it took to win. Shout out to my teammates and coaches for all being on the same page."

All in all, the Bears had four in double figures: Rolle, Scott, Merrett and Haliburton. Coach Schmidt was proud of the team effort and how the guys stuck with it through the slow start. Schmidt said, "We didn't play the way we were capable of down in Florida this past weekend, so we wanted to get that taste out of our mouth. Proud of the guys after the slow start to stick with the game plan, keep playing together on both ends of the floor and finish the game strong.
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The Bears take to the court again on Saturday when they travel to Baytown, TX against Lee College. 
 
 
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