JCJC hangs on late to defeat Co-Lin

WESSON, Miss. – The Copiah-Lincoln Community College Wolves dropped their first contest of the 2017-2018 season against Jones County Junior College Monday night. The 73-62 loss drops the Wolves to 7-1 on the season and 0-1 in the MACJC South Division. JCJC improves to 3-3 on the year and 1-0 in the South Division.

"They kind of pushed around tonight and got to the rim and got to the free throw line," said Co-Lin head coach Kenny Bizot. "We were uncharacteristic in several things, especially turnovers. We also could not control the tempo of this game, they dictated how this game was played. We have to make adjustments going into the Delgado game on Saturday…we still have a lot of basketball left."

The game was physical from the tipoff as contest was tied five times in the opening half. Darrian Wilson rattled home a three-pointer at the buzzer to give the Wolves a two-point, 28-26 lead going into the locker room. Co-Lin took the lead seven separate times in the back-and-forth opening half.

The Wolves came out firing in the second half and opened on an 8-0 run to give Co-Lin a 36-26 lead, the Wolves largest of the game. The Bobcats began chipping back over the next five minutes and had cut the lead to just three with 12:48 remaining in the game. Two minutes later JCJC's Mason Daniels hit a jumper to give the Bobcats a 48-47 lead and the Wolves could not recover.

Co-Lin cut the lead down to just one at the six-minute mark and the four-minute mark, but was unable to break through as the Bobcat's offense was controlling the pace of the game. JCJC put the game away in the final minutes after two three-point plays.

Jonathan Floyd led the Wolves in scoring with 18 points while going 8-for-10 from the free throw line. Damarius Brooks scored 13 and led the Wolves in assists with 4, while Youry White knocked down 12 points. Anthony Jones led Co-Lin on the glass with 11 rebounds and Darrian Wilson posted eight rebounds of his own.

Malik Henry, Winceton Edwards, and Daniels all led the Bobcats with 18 points each. Henry also led JCJC in rebounds with seven.

Co-Lin shot 33 percent (18-for-55) from the field, 24 percent (6-for-25) from the three-point line, and 83 percent (20-for-24) from the foul stripe. The Bobcats shot 39 percent (24-for-62) from the field, 24 percent (4-for-17) from beyond the arc, and 78 percent (21-for-27) from the free throw line.

The Wolves are back in action Saturday, December 9 at 3 p.m. as Co-Lin hosts Delgado Community College in Mullen Gymnasium. Watch the action live at colinathletics.com or listen live WMJU 104.3 FM in Brookhaven.