Friday November 9, 2018: Men's Basketball
Baton Rouge, LA
Bears go down early but claw their way back into the game to lose, in the last seconds, to the Itawamba Indians 72 to 69. It was a tale of two halves for the Bears, here Friday night in the Bonne Santé Wellness Center. In the first half, the Bears struggled to get into their offensive game plan and 27 Bears turnovers helped the Indians get out in transition and make easy buckets. In the first nine minutes of the game the Indians jumped out to an early 22 to 4 lead, over the Bears. During the next, six minutes the Bears found a spark off their bench in Bryson Celestine, who came in, as the point guard, and settled down the Bears offense. They went on a 14 to 4 run to close the gap, with Itawamba leading 26 to 18. Itawamba made a push, in the final four minutes of the half, to take a 37 to 22 lead into the break.
At halftime, Bears Head Coach Don Green, challenged his guys to slow down and play with pose and control. The game was too fast in the first half, and the Bears were rushing, which was leading to unforced turnovers, which let the Indians get out in transition and get easy buckets.
In the second half, the Bears began to slowly chip away at the Indians lead. A change in the offensive game plan also helped the Bears close the gap. With a little less than five minutes to play, the Bears only trailed the Indians by five, 59 to 54. BRCC got within 3 points at the 3:51 mark, when Terrance Dodson stole the ball and scored a layup. The score was Itawamba 62, and BRCC 59. The Bears and the Indians traded buckets for the next minute. Things started to heat up with about two minutes left in the game. Terrance Dodson again stole the ball and scored a layup to bring the Bears within one, at 67 to 66 with 2 minutes to play. BRCC had multiple chances to win the game but sloppy play, missed lay-ups, and missed free throws did the Bears in. The final score was Itawamba Indians 72 and BRCC Bears 69.
Even though the Bears lost the game, Coach Green was pleased with the guys' effort in the second half and thinks they found some things on offense they can use and also some personnel combination that may be helpful in the future. After committing 27 turnovers in the first half, the Bears had only 3 in the second half. But the Bears continued their struggles from the free throw line, only shooting 54%. BRCC outscored Itawamba 47 to 35, in the second half. Itawamba improves to 2-1 on the season as the Bears fall to 0-3.
Bears Highlights:
Terrance Dodson led all Bears with 19 points
Terry Johnson scored 10 points, 8 were in the second half
Nigel Jones scored 9 points
Bryson Celestine settled down the offense in the second half scoring 8 points and played some locked down defense.
The Bears will be back in action this Tuesday November 13 as they take on Lamar Port Arthur at 6 pm in the Bonne Santé Wellness Center. Admission will be $5.00