Sanders beats Meridian with huge drive

PERKINSTON — Mississippi Gulf Coast needed a bucket to beat second-place Meridian, and the ball wound up right where it need to be, in point guard Donovan Sanders' hands.

The sophomore from Walls delivered in a big way, using a screen from Darius Dawson to drive to the bucket for a 78-76 win that moved the Bulldogs closer to a postseason berth.

"There were 10 seconds left, and I just saw an opening," he said. "I went down and trusted the layup. It fell in."

Gulf Coast (10-12, 4-6 MACCC) moved up three spots to 9^th in the MACCC standings. It should also help the Bulldogs' Massey Ranking, which plays a role in seeding the final three spots in the 12-team NJCAA Region 23 Tournament. The top eight teams from the conference automatically qualify, and they're now a game back of Northeast Mississippi for that final guaranteed transfer spot.

Sanders tied with Dawson (So., Sumter S.C./West Florence) and Javeon Gordon (Fr., Mount Olive/Mount Olive) for team-high 14 points. Dawson led the Bulldogs with six rebounds.

Gulf Coast's biggest lead came at halftime, when JaVon Anderson (So., Columbia S.C./Ridge View) nailed a 3-pointer at the buzzer to cap a sizzling shooting half. Gulf Coast made 6-of-8 3-pointers and shot 60.7 percent from the field.

"We had some stuff we wanted to run and it worked," Gulf Coast coach Tim Ryan said. "We've gotten into a rut where we weren't running hard on our plays. Tonight, we did."

Gulf Coast led by eight with 10 minutes to go, but Meridian started chipping away. The Eagles scored the next seven points, but they wouldn't tie it up until the final minute.

Sanders made a pair of free throws with 27.6 seconds left for a 76-72 advantage, but Meridian forced a pair of turnovers off the press to make it 76-all with 15.4 seconds left. 

"Donovan was clutch down the end," Ryan said. "He made the foul shots, made that layup. He had seven assists is not high for him. The last game, he had 13. But the seven assists tonight were in a slow-paced game. It's a really good number."

Sanders also only played eight minutes in the first half because of foul trouble, which drove that assist tally down.

Meridian (14-5, 6-3) falls to a fourth-place tie in the MACCC after shooting 27.8 percent from the 3-point line.

Gulf Coast gets a Thursday night off before hitting the road next Monday to play at Northwest Mississippi. Tipoff in Senatobia will be a 6 p.m. 

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