Canoville Powers Wolves to Come From Behind Win In Conference Opener

WESSON – The Co-Lin Men's Basketball team returned to action playing host to Southwest Mississippi in each team's MACCC opener. The Wolves used a huge second half to overcome a bad first half performance en route to an 88-84 come-from-behind win over the Bears.

The Wolves jumped out to an early 7-5 lead over the Bears over the opening five minutes of the first half. The Wolves and Bears then traded baskets and leads as they added 14 points each to their scoring totals while the Wolves maintained their two-point lead at 21-19 with just over nine minutes remaining in the half. The Bears closed out the half with a 27-10 scoring run to take a 46-31 lead as the teams entered the locker rooms at halftime.

The second half belonged to the Wolves as they scored 14 straight unanswered points over the opening minutes to cut the Bears lead down to 46-45 with just under 16 minutes of play left. The Wolves took control with that seized momentum and outscored the Bears, 17-14 over the next few minutes of play to take a 62-60 lead with just under ten minutes remaining in the game. The Bears gained a 63-62 lead with under nine minutes to play; however, the Wolves regained the lead at 65-62 with less than eight minutes of play and never gave the lead back to the Bears for the remainder of the game. The Wolves closed out the game with a 23-22 scoring run to secure the 88-84 come-from-behind victory.

Freshman forward Dylan Canoville (Plantation, Fla.) had a career night for the Wolves as he led the way with a double-double effort of 20 points and 15 rebounds. For Canoville, the 20 points are the second-highest scoring mark of the season while the 15 rebounds are the highest mark of the season. As a team, the Wolves once again had four players hit double digit scoring numbers as sophomore forwards Kaeden Laws (Southaven) and AJ Warnsley (Byram) had 16 and 13 points respectively with Warnsley adding seven rebounds and Laws had four rebounds each while sophomore guard Jemario Hersey (Brookhaven) had 15 points with four rebounds, one assist, and one steal.

Sophomore guards Cowandric Samuel (Jackson), Jahvon Smith (Hallandale, Fla.), and Andrew Anderson (Hattiesburg) had eight, seven, and six points respectively. Samuel added four rebounds, four assists, and three steals. Canoville and Smith shared the team lead in steals while Smith added eight rebound and two assists. Anderson led the team in assists with seven along with three rebounds and one steal. Freshman guard Mike Smith (New Albany) had three points to round out the scoring for the Wolves.

Co-Lin improves to 7-3 overall and 1-0 in conference play and will return to action with a road game against East Mississippi on Thursday, January 12. Tip-off between the Wolves and the Lions is scheduled for 6 p.m., at Keyes T. Currie Coliseum in Scooba.