Harrison, MGCCC pick up victory No. 1

PERKINSTON — The circumstances around Jason Harrison's first college head coaching victory weren't ideal, but the die was cast in the game that saw Mississippi Gulf Coast win 60-34 when Taylor Made Academy pulled its team from the court in the middle of the second half.

The Bulldogs (1-0) surged to the lead thanks to a 34-5 run in the first quarter that saw Dillyn Neely (So., Biloxi/Biloxi) bomb three of his four 3-pointers from way downtown.

"We played OK, but we played like we had a bunch of new guys playing," Harrison said. "They were a little tight at first, but midway through (the first half), once they got comfortable and revved up the intensity, we started to separate. The ball started moving and we started playing together."

Neely led Gulf Coast with 15 points, while Justin Minter (Fr., Wenonah/Birmingham, Ala.) and Jayden McCorvey (Fr., Pascagoula/Pascagoula) chipped in 10 each.

"We see it all the time," Harrison said. "When Dillyn is concentrating and he's on, he can really shoot it. He's a guy we want to always make sure we get open and we get him going."

McCorvey scored the first bucket of the Harrison Era less than 30 seconds into the game, but Gulf Coast was down by three when the Bulldogs launched their run. Aaron Harrison (Fr., West Philadelphia/Philadelphia, Pa.) started it with a layup with 15:28 left in the half, and Minter ended it with a drive 12 minutes later.

There was 11:39 left on the clock when Taylor Made was hit with a serious of technical and the coach pulled his team from the floor.

Harrison will have some game video to break down before getting back on the court next week. The Bulldogs entertain William Carey JV on Friday at 6 p.m.

 "It's a typical first game," Harrison said. "Things we were bad at today, we were bad in practice. That's a microcosm of what we're doing. I'm trying to get them to realize that we play like we practice. All the mistakes and things they did wrong, same stuff we do in practice wrong."

For more information on MGCCC's 10 intercollegiate athletic teams, follow @MGCCCBulldogs on Twitter and MGCCCBulldogs on Facebook, and go to mgcccbulldogs.com.