Tuesday November 16, 2021: Men's Basketball
Summit, MS
Baton Rouge Bears and the Southwest Mississippi Bears met in a rematch of the season opener, tonight on the second day of the Coca-Cola Classic. Like the season opener the game came down to the wire but this time the Baton Rouge Bears would pull off the 77 to 75 victory over the Southwest Mississippi Bears.
Like their first meeting, the first half was a back-and-forth affair between the two teams. The half saw the game tied five times. Southwest would get on the board first with a quick three pointer. Jayhlon Young would counter for the Bears with a jumper to cut the lead to one with 19:16. Southwest would then go on a mini 9 to 4 run to take a 14 to 6 lead over Baton Rouge with 16:22, in the half. Baton Rouge would battle back and pull within two on a Jordan Randall jumper with 11:43 left in the half; 22-20. Southwest would go on another mini run to take a seven-point lead with 9:18 left in the half;29-22. Baton Rouge would tie the game at 33 with 6:38 on a Reginald Gause jumper. Baton Rouge would grab their first lead of the ball game when Morantz James was fouled on a three pointer with 4:15 in the half. Morantz converted 2 of 3 free throws to give the Bears a 38 to 36 lead. Southwest and Baton Rouge would go back and forth for the next four minutes of the half. Southwest would hit a jumper with 1.2 second left in the half to take a 44 to 43 halftime lead. The first half was a fast-paced game between the two teams. Baton Rouge found a bit of a rhythm on the offensive end as they got a lot of ball movement in their half court sets and shots were falling tonight. Southwest capitalized on the boards and turning those boards into second chance opportunities and points.
The second half was like the first with both teams battling and the score being tied four times. Baton Rouge would gain their largest lead of the night, seven points with a jumper by Jayhlon Young with 9:13 left to play; 65-58. Southwest would again battle back to tie the game at 69 with 3:41 left. Southwest would grab a one-point lead with 47.4 seconds left;75-74. Reginald Gause would hit a jumper for the Bears with 38.4 second left to take a one-point advantage;76-75. On the next Baton Rouge possession Jayhlon Young was fouled with 23.6 seconds left. Jayhlon would make one of two free throws to give the BRCC Bears a 77 to 75 lead. Southwest would have their changes as time would end but multiple attempts and put backs at the basket would fall short. Then with .6 left on the clock Southwest was fouled under the basketball brining them to the line for a chance to tie the ball game and send it into overtime. Southwest would miss the front end of a 1 and 1 as Baton Rouge would grab the rebound to seal the 77 to 75 victory, tonight in the Southwest Basketball Center.
Baton Rouge was led in scoring by Jayhlon Young with 21 points, while Southwest was led in scoring by Zachariah Shugars with 16 points.
With the victory the Baton Rouge Bears improve to 1-6 on the season while Southwest Mississippi falls to 6-2.
Bears Highlights:
Jayhlon Young led all Bears with 21 points with 7 rebounds, 2 assist and 3 steals.
Reginald Gause scored 14 points with 3 rebounds and 1 block
Kaevon Jones added 11 points with 3 rebounds, 4 assist and 2 blocks.
The Bears will return to action this Sunday November 21, 2021, at 2 pm when they take on the Bossier Parish Cavs in the Bonne Sante Wellness Center.
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