The Bears opened up the second half of their season the same way they closed the first, with a win.
This time it came in the form of a 94-59 decision over the visiting Delgado Dolphins.
"Everything that we have been talking about in the first five practices leading up to today, you want to see it come to fruition, and I am really proud of the guys' focus and intensity tonight," Southwest head coach Corey Schmidt said. "I thought that the defensive end of the floor was where the game started. We really locked in."
While the defense of the Bears (8-6) shined early on, holding the Dolphins scoreless for over the first three and a half minutes of the game, the offense fed off of that momentum and made a difference as well.
Fazl Oshodi provided scoring from deep as he quickly found his touch by knocking down a pair of 3-pointers early, giving Southwest a 16-7 advantage.
"We executed our assignments and we spaced the floor out," Oshodi said. "We knew that they were going to come out in zone and we wanted to hit the high post and go from there."
While Oshodi got into rhythm from the outside, Tylik Weeks did so as well, but from in the paint. He followed Oshodi's second 3-pointer with a pair of makes himself, helping Southwest maintain its lead.
Towards the latter half of the first period, Oshodi continued to shine, splashing-in a pair of free throws before sinking-in another triple, keeping Southwest ahead 34-23.
Robert Flantroy II closed out the first half with a bucket with 18 seconds remaining, giving Southwest a 42-29 lead at the intermission.
The hits kept coming for the Bears early in the second half.
Josh Schonback knocked down two free throws before Oshodi made yet another 3-pointer. Jaylen Haliburton and Flantroy then showed their skills from deep as well with 3's of their own, with the latter making a pair over a span of two minutes.
The second make from deep sparked an 11-0 run, highlighted by an emphatic alley-oop dunk from Daylen Thomas on an assist from Weeks. The rally put Southwest up 70-41 with just under ten minutes to go.
From there, the Bears used the momentum built to maintain their lead before sealing the win over the Dolphins.
Weeks led the Bears with 20 points while Oshodi had 17. Thomas posted 12 while LeVionne Lindsey tallied 11 and Flantroy 10.
Southwest hits the road on Thursday, heading to Utica to face Hinds at 7:30 p.m. to conclude non-conference action.
