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Kam Brown
Chuck Barnes

Bear Basketball takes down Lee College in home opener

| By: Cody Junkin
Kam Brown

Southwest Mississippi Men's Basketball hosted Lee College on Tuesday, November 3rd for the first home game of the season.

The Bears opened up in the scoring in the first minute of the game to jump out to an early lead, but Lee college matched them in a first half that saw 9 lead changes.

A slam from Lem Ajith set the tone for Southwest as they took an 8-5 lead over Lee.

Lee answered back with 5 straight points to take a 10-8 lead back before a bucket from Kam Brown tied the game followed by a three pointer from Lem Ajith to give the Bears a 13-10 lead.

Chaunce Stewart drained a three to extend the lead before Lee answered back with a bucket and three of their own to tie the game back at 18-18.

Brian Foxworth took the lead back himself and extended it with back to back buckets to put the Bears up 22-18 with 8:12 left in the first half.

Lee College continued to answer every move the Bears made with points of their own as they took a 23-22 lead at the 6:52 mark.

A pair of Jon Jackson free throws put the Bears back in front followed quickly by Lee tying the game again.

Devin Moore sank a three pointer with 3:23 left in the half to give the Bears a 28-25 lead that they would not give back for the rest of the game.

Kam Brown made a three of his own to extend the Southwest lead and quickly found himself on a breakaway the next possession that turned in a Saleem Gakiza slam to put Southwest up 34-27 with just one minute left in the first half.

One final Jon Jackson bucket gave the Bears a 36-30 lead to take into the halftime break.

The Bears picked up where they left off scoring in the first twenty seconds of the second half on two free throws from Brandon Burke Jr.

Saleem Gakiza kept the pace up for the Bears with a three pointer moments later to give Southwest a 41-32 lead.

A slam from Kam Brown followed by a Brandon Burke Jr. three put the Bears up 46-32 over Lee.

Southwest kept up the pace, but Lee College began to heat up as they slowly chipped away at the lead.

A pair of Bear threes from Kam Brown and Chaunce Stewart helped slow the Lee momentum and put Southwest up 58-45 with 10:12 remaining in the game.

Free throws became the name of the game for the Bears in the final seven minutes as the Bears went 16/16 from the free throw line to close out the game and clinch the win against Lee College.

Southwest's final 10 points came on made free throws with 6 of those coming from Brian Foxworth.

Foxworth scored 10 of the Bears final 14 points to help the Bears secure an 84-78 win over Lee College for their first win of the season.

Brian Foxworth lead the team with 22 points and went 8/9 from the free throw line, 6/6 in the final two minutes of the game.

"He's really stepped up this year… he's honestly improved almost more than any player I've ever had from year one to year two. Especially in my time here at Southwest. Just the growth, from him not playing in the nonconference games last year, thinking we were maybe going to redshirt him to coming in and playing the last 14 games in conference and our 2 games in the region tournament," said Head Coach Corey Schmidt on Brian Foxworth's growth as a player, "he only played 16 games as a freshman, so it wasn't even like he got a full season. Then he comes out this year taking a huge step in filling in that role as our closer, our playmaker, our guy that gets you buckets when you need one. He's fun to watch and fun to coach. I'm really proud of his growth."

Kam Brown followed with 17 points of his own and went 5/6 on free throws with 1 three-pointer.

Brandon Burke Jr. finished with 11 points, all of them coming in the second half, going a perfect 6/6 from the free throw line with 1 three-pointer of his own.

"Impressive win, impressive win… We're trying to figure some stuff out. I think there's a couple guys that we've gotten in a pretty natural rotation. I think guys are settling into their role and figuring out how they can help us with what we need them to do. I like where we're at right now and can we keep taking steps. Now, can we win a road game Thursday. We showed we can win at home, best fans in the country in Juco," said Coach Schmidt.

The Bears (1-2) will be on the road taking on Baton Rouge on Thursday, November 5th.
 
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