Gulf Coast stays perfect in nail-biter

PERKINSTON — Mississippi Gulf Coast never trailed Thursday in posting its 10th straight win to start the season, beating Copiah-Lincoln 63-61.

But don't think it came easy, and it almost slipped away at the final buzzer when the Wolves missed a 3-pointer from the corner that would have won it.

"It's a wakeup call," Gulf Coast coach Jason Harrison said. "We needed it. It's a young team. I told them they were going to come in and fight, and we didn't step up. We made enough plays. We made a big play down the stretch to get a stop, and then almost gave it away. We dodged a bullet."

The Bulldogs (10-0, 2-0 MACJC South) led by as many as 13 points, but Co-Lin got it down to two with 10.1 seconds left. Gulf Coast got the stop and had a runout going the other way, but missed a dunk with 5.5 seconds left. The ball bounced beyond the 3-point line and the Wolves ran the other way, pushing the ball to the left corner where the buzzer-beater failed to fall.

D'yasmond Booker (Fr., Pascagoula/Pascagoula), who missed the dunk, still led Gulf Coast with 18 points and 11 rebounds. Jayden McCorvey (Fr., Pascagoula/Pascagoula) had 14 points and Mykah Brown (So., Petal/Petal) added 11.

Gulf Coast got beaten on the defensive glass, with Co-Lin (5-6, 0-2) getting 21 offensive boards. The Wolves, however, shot just 11-of-25 (52.9 percent) from the free-throw line.

The Bulldogs led by 13 points with 4:35 to play in the first half, but the lead shrunk to 37-32 going into the locker room. They had four separate double-digit leads in the second half before things got tight down the stretch.

"We played how we practiced and how we approached the shootaround," Harrison said. "We were very lackadaisical. I hope that's the worst game we'll play in conference, but a conference win you'll take any way you can get it. Good, bad, ugly. It's survive and advance and move on."

Gulf Coast entertains Southwest on Monday, with tipoff at the Weathers-Wentzell Center scheduled for 7:30 p.m.

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