The Southwest Bears were never quite able to put all the pieces together Monday night at Co-Lin and, in the end, found themselves on the wrong end of a 110-102 final score. With the loss, the Bears fell to 6-6 on the season (0-3 in MACJC South Division play) while Co-Lin improved to 5-7, 1-2 in the South division.
The first half was dominated by Co-Lin. The Wolves opened the game on a 27-13 scoring run eight minutes into the game.
Later, trailing 36-17, the Bears outscored Co-Lin 19-10 to pull to within 10 at 46-36, with two minutes remaining before the break. Co-Lin regrouped to score eight of the last 12 points of the half and take a 54-40 lead into the locker room.
The Bears vaulted into an 11-2 run to open the second half, capped by a Deione Weeks’ 3-pointer, to pull the Bears within five. Co-Lin quickly answered with a 12-0 to boost their lead back to 17 points, 68-51, with 15 minutes remaining.
Trailing by 18 points, 80-62, with 9:58 to play, the Bears slowly worked themselves back into the game. Twymond Howard nailed a late 3-pointer with 20 seconds on the clock to pull the Bears back to within four points, 106-102, but that proved to be their last gasp as Co-Lin went 4-of-4 from the free throw line down the stretch to secure the win.
“(It was) just a real tough one on the road tonight,” said Southwest head coach Casey Carter. “We dug ourselves too big of a hole and never could get out of it. Also, (Co-Lin’s) ability to shoot the three so well in the first half was a big difference. Hats off to the Wolves; they played a complete game.”
Despite the loss, Carter said “I’m proud of our guys for fighting to the finish.”
Howard led all scorers, with 25 points and also pulled down 13 rebounds. Chris Jones joined Howard in double figures with 21 points as did Jaylen Moore with 18 points and Weeks with 15.
The Bears shot a whopping 47 free throws for the game, but were able to knock down 30.
Chris Steverson led Co-Lin’s offense with 21 points, The Wolves also struggled at the free throw line, hitting 24-of-41.
Southwest returns Thursday to host Pearl River. Game time is set for 7:15.
