Holmes Bulldogs get 96-89 win over Gulf Coast Bulldogs
GOODMAN --- The Holmes Community College Bulldogs put five people in double figures tonight here against the Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College Bulldogs as Holmes picked up the 96-89 win to advance to the next round of the NJCAA Region XXIII Tournament.
With the win, the Bulldogs went to 12-3 overall and will travel to LSU-Eunice on Tuesday to play in the third round of the Region XXIII Tournament at 6 p.m. LSU-E is the No. 4 seed in the tournament and were scheduled to play Itawamba tonight in Eunice but Itawamba had to opt out due to COVID-19 protocols.
Gulf Coast and Holmes went back and forth the entire first half of play, and Gulf Coast held a 46-44 lead at halftime. Brandon Weatherspoon was hot in the first half hitting four three-pointers and had 17 points at the halftime break.
The second half was no different in the early part of the half. Gulf Coast held their last lead with just over 16 minutes to play in the game. Darrius Clark hit a two-point shot with 16:10 to go to put the Bulldogs up 57-56. Clark had previously drained two three-pointers before his two-point bucket. Holmes then went on a run to go up by 12 with 13:35 left after Kaleb Higgins hit a three-pointer.
The Bulldogs still held a 12-point lead with 12:15 after Weatherspoon hit a two-point bucket to make the score 72-60. Gulf Coast then got within seven at 73-66 with 10 minutes to go. The Bulldogs went up 13 at 81-68 with 8:40 to play on a Jordan Brister three-pointer.
Holmes led by 12 with 5:30 to play after a two-point bucket from Higgins and an 11-point lead after Weatherspoon hit one of two free throws to make it 86-75 with five minutes to play.
Gulf Coast cut the lead to four with 1:55 left and to three with 1:10 to play on a three-pointer. Tyler Talley then hit four straight free throws to pull the Bulldogs out to a 95-87 lead.
Higgins led the Bulldogs with 23 points while Weatherspoon finished with 20. Tyler Talley had 17, Darrius Clark 16 and Ahmad Anthony had 11.
The Bulldogs shot 51.5 percent from the floor (35-of-68), 40 percent from three-point line (12-of-30) and 73.7 percent from the free-throw line (14-of-19).