WESSON — With four players in double figures, the Southwest Mississippi Community College Bears picked up their first win of the season Monday, 67-60 over rival Copiah-Lincoln at Mullen Gymnasium.
In ladies’ action, the Lady Bears fell 74-55.
Phillip Morris led the way for the Bears with 19 points, while D. J. Lewis had 17, Mitch Thompson added 13 and Chad Jones chipped in 11. Jones and Thompson each registered 10 rebounds.
Southwest moved to 1-5 on the season and 1-0 in the Mississippi Association of Community and Junior Colleges South Division. Co-Lin fell to 2-8 and 0-2.
Southwest took an early 2-0 lead on a Morris layup and never trailed. The Bears held a 24-14 advantage with 7:02 to go in the first half and were ahead 32-26 at the break.
The Wolves refused to go away, and after falling behind by 10 points again in the second half, pulled to within 51-50 with 5:02 left to play.
The Southwest defense did not yield, however, and Morris sealed the deal with two free throws with 12.8 seconds to play.
“It was just a total team effort,” Southwest head coach Bill Wallace said. “We finally put a whole game together. (The guys) have had some tough breaks. They really deserved this. We just executed our game plan to the best we could do. I’m really proud for them.”
The Bears hit 15 of 22 free throws.
Co-Lin’s Marcus Hooten led all scorers with 24 points. The Wolves were 22-30 from the charity stripe.
The ladies’ contest was a tale of three games. At one point in the first half, Co-Lin held a 17-point lead before going into the half with a 34-32 advantage.
In the second half, the Southwest offense roared to life and the Lady Bears held a one-point lead, 52-51, with 11:16 left in the game. Co-Lin then rediscovered its offense and went on a 23-3 run to end the game and pick up the win.
Southwest fell to 4-2 and 0-1 with the loss, while Co-Lin, ranked sixth in the latest National Junior College Athletic Associated poll, climbed to 10-0 and 2-0.
Octavia Bearden topped the Lady Bears with 16 points. Also in double figures were Ta’keya Felder and Ivielle Stewart with 11 and 10 points, respectively. Southwest made 12 of 16 free throws.
Shareka Hunt scored 18 points for Co-Lin to lead all scorers. The Lady Wolves made 20 of 22 free throws.
Southwest will be off until Jan. 5, when the Bears and Lady Bears travel to Baton Rouge Community College.
