Wolves force overtime, but fall to Gulf Coast, 58-56

WESSON, Miss. - The Wolves of Copiah-Lincoln Community College forced overtime for the third time this season in a tough, defensive battle with Gulf Coast, but ultimately lost by two, 58-56. The loss drops the Wolves to 6-12, 1-8 on the year and improves the Bulldogs to 14-3, 6-3. Co-Lin is on the road this Thursday, February 6 as the team travels to Decatur to take on East Central. Game time is slated for 7:30 p.m. and fans can watch the action live at www.colinathletics.com/watch or listen live at www.colinathletics.com/listen or WMJU 104.3 FM in Brookhaven. 

"What can I say about our guys, we played hard, we are fighting, we played defensively, and gave our chance a to win, it just didn't go down," said Co-Lin head coach Kenny Bizot. "We just could not break down their pressure enough. Their coach did a great job changing their defense and using their size, but overall we got some decent looks, it's just disappointing we couldn't get the win. Our goal is to finish out the season strong." 

The Gulf Coast Bulldogs controlled the contest early as they built up a 13-point, 21-8, midway through the first half. The Wolves began chipping away at that lead late in the first half with six straight points from Dayquan Perkins and another three from Tyree Lomax cut the lead to just four, 30-26, at the half. 

The Wolves had the momentum coming out of the locker room and quickly capitalized with a quick three-pointer from Cameron Woodall followed by a layup from Lance Madison on a Gulf Coast turnover. The swing put Co-Lin on top, 31-30, for the first time since the first few minutes of play. The teams traded baskets over the next 15 minutes with five ties during that span. Darius Kent hit a big three-pointer with 5:06 remaining to put the Wolves up by three, 48-45, but the Bulldogs quickly bounced back with a 6-0 run that pushed the lead to three, 51-48, with less than a minute to play. With just 10 seconds remaining, Kent hit another three from the corner to tie the game at 51-51 and send the game to overtime.

Co-Lin took an early overtime lead with a pair of baskets from Woodall, but Gulf Coast hung around with free throws on the other end. The Wolves had possession with just 23 seconds left down 58-56, but Kent's potential game-winning three-pointer rimmed out. 

Perkins led the Wolves in several statistical categories as he came off the bench for a 13-point, 10-rebound double-double. Woodall, Kent, and TJ Monroe all finished with nine points, Madison hauled in eight rebounds. Other notable performances included Lomax's team-best five steals. Neely Dillyn led Gulf Coast with 19 points as he was 5-for-12 from three-point range. Justin Minter led the Bulldogs with seven boards.

The Wolves shot 35 percent (20-of-57) from the floor, 22 percent (5-of-22) from three-point range, and 58 percent (11-of-19) from the free-throw line. The Bulldogs shot 38 percent (21-of-56) from the floor, 35 percent (6-of-17) from downtown, and 50 percent (10-of-20) from the stripe. The Wolves outrebounded the Bulldogs 44 to 38 but lost the turnover battle 27 to 24.