POPLARVILLE — For most of Thursday's conference road game at Pearl River, the Bears went toe-to-toe with the host Wildcats. But a loss of momentum in the final few minutes was difficult for Southwest to overcome in a 79-70 loss.
 
"Anytime you have a lead at the end of a game, you want to close it out," Southwest head coach Corey Schmidt said. "I just think that we didn't make enough plays down the stretch. We put them on the line too much and we had some tough offensive possessions there."
 
The Bears (13-9, 4-3 MACCC) got a good mix of both long and short-range makes early on as Daylen Thomas and Tylik Weeks scored from inside while LeVionne Lindsey and Josh Schonback connected on 3-pointers. Southwest raced out to a 10-4 lead.
 
As time continued to tick away in the first half, Southwest maintained its lead, but Pearl River pulled within two on multiple occasions.
 
The Bears lost the lead for the first time at the 7:10 mark of the first half. After quickly regaining it, the Bears unfortunately lost it again and trailed at the half, 42-41.
 
Looking for a spark, Southwest turned to sophomore Tylik Weeks who put the team on his back towards the middle of the second half.
 
During a stretch of around 5:00 of game time, Weeks scored eight of Southwest's 10 points. Weeks' final basket of the stretch put the Bears ahead 56-55.
 
Later in the half, the Bears took a five-point lead hoping to build momentum down the stretch in an effort to close the game with a win.
 
But Pearl River got a big three-point play followed by 7-of-8 free throws in the final 2:18 to take the win.
 
Weeks finished as the top performer for the Bears, scoring 26 points and finishing one rebound shy of a double-double.
 
The Bears return to action on Monday, hosting Coahoma at 7:30 p.m. Southwest is proud to be partnering with Make-A-Wish in honor of Zack Embry of McComb. Donations to Make-A-Wish will be collected at the door and at the concession stand during Monday's games.