Flanagan’s 26 propels Gulf Coast

PERKINSTON — Melvion Flanagan had 26 points and Carr Thiam had 21 to lead Gulf Coast to a 76-54 win over Baton Rouge on Saturday at the Weathers-Wentzell Center.

The Bulldogs used a 13-0 run midway through the first half to seize control and improve to 3-2. 

"What I liked was we ran things better," Gulf Coast coach Tim Ryan said. "Our guys were reading better tonight and it created more opportunities for us. It wasn't the fact that we knocked shots down, because I think our guys can shoot it. We got better shots, and that's a reflection of us running our offense."

Thiam (Fr., Tampa Fla./Wharton) also had seven rebounds, and Anthony Ratliff (So., Jackson/Terry) scored 12. Melvion Flanagan (Fr., Alexandria La./Peabody) had a pair of deep 3-pointers early in the second half to help push the Bulldogs to their biggest lead at 58-29.

Thiam nailed two 3-pointers to start the game, followed by a Flanagan 3 which gave Gulf Coast a 9-2 lead. The Bulldogs never trailed.

"Defensively, we didn't think they could shoot the ball well, and I think our gameplan worked," Ryan said. "Our gameplan was to keep them out of the middle and force them into bad shots."

Gulf Coast got back on the court after having a game postponed Thursday.

"That threw us off a little bit," Ryan said, "so to get this game in before Monday night was a big help."

They'll return to action with a trip to Summit to play Southwest Mississippi. Tipoff is at 6 p.m.

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