Wolves Dominant Second Half Leads to Victory over Bears

WESSON – The Co-Lin Men's Basketball team returned to MACCC play by hosting Southwest on Thursday, February 19. The Wolves used a strong defensive second half to propel their offense and get a 71-64 victory over the Bears.

The teams traded baskets and leads in the opening moments of the first half, but the Bears went on to hold a lead, 12-5, with 14:45 left to play. The Wolves responded with a 9-4 scoring run to cut the lead down to 16-14 after a layup by Tyrell Bowles (Springdale, MD) with 10:28 remaining. The Bears responded with a 12-10 scoring run increasing their lead to 28-24 with 4:38 left on the clock. The Bears then closed out the first half with a 7-2 scoring run to push their lead to 35-26 as the teams entered the locker rooms at halftime.

The Wolves opened the second half with a 12-4 scoring run with all points coming from three pointers by Morris Hammond (Ridgeland) to cut the lead down to 39-38 with 17:07 left on the clock. The Wolves then used a 10-9 scoring run including back-to-back dunks by Moustapha Salekh (Ngekoh, Senegal) to tie the game at 48-48 with 12:50 left on the clock. The Wolves then used a 10-8 scoring run punctuated by a lead taking three by Hammond to take a 56-56 lead over the Bears with 8:27 remaining, and the Wolves never trailed again. The Wolves used a 7-1 scoring run ended with a jumper by Koie Williams (Philadelphia) to extend their lead to 65-57 with 5:11 left in the game. The Bears outscored the Wolves, 7-6, over the final minutes but never got within six points of the lead as the Wolves secured the 71-64 victory.

Moustapha Salekh led the way offensively for the Wolves by leading all scorers with 24 points and narrowly missed a double-double with nine rebounds along with two steals and four assists while Tyrell Bowles had his second-straight double-double performance with 17 points and 10 rebounds along with one steal and two blocks. Morris Hammond had 15 points, all three-pointers, with four rebounds, three assists, and one steal.

Koie Williams narrowly missed a double-double with eight points and a career-high 10 assists while Tristian Lucas (Pearl) had five points and Dylan Creggett (DeSoto, TX) had two points to round out the scoring for the Wolves.

Co-Lin improves to 13-10 overall, 6-4 in MACCC play, and will return to action hosting Northwest on Saturday, February 21. Tip-off between the Rangers and the Wolves is set for 3 p.m., at Mullen Gym in Wesson.