MGCCC’s start snaps 3-game skid

PERKINSTON — Mississippi Gulf Coast came into Monday's game against Northeast Mississippi riding a three-game losing streak, thanks in part to a series of slow starts.

The Bulldogs snapped the losing streak with a great first nine minutes on the way to a 68-60 win at Dantzler Arena.

"We needed that," Gulf Coast coach Owen Miller said. "We were reeling, to say the least. I'm really pleased with how we prepared. These guys had two really good days of preparation. They could have felt sorry for themselves. I'm pleased with how they prepared."

Jabbari Barry (So., Lake Charles, La./Barbe) led Gulf Coast with 18 points, and Kaue Kalinowski (So., Curitiba, Brazil/Divine Savior) had 16 points and six assists. Za'Kariyea Hamilton (Fr., Jackson/Clinton) chipped in 12.

The Bulldogs (12-7, 2-3 MACCC) moved up a spot into eighth place in the MACCC. Northeast took only its second loss of the season, falling to 3-2 in conference.

MGCCC travels to archrival Pearl River on Thursday. The Wildcats are tied with Holmes for the conference lead. Tipoff is scheduled for 7:30 p.m.

Gulf Coast jumped out to a 28-9 lead on a 3-pointer by Thomas Tangle (So., Standing Pine/Choctaw Central) with 11:03 left in the first half. The Bulldogs' press generated some easy buckets, and Larry Lee (So., Utica/Raymond) had seven in that stretch. He finished with 13 points and six rebounds.

Northeast, though, held MGCCC scoreless for the next 6:19, but only cut eight points off its deficit.

"We were able to handle that run they made in the first half where in the past it's been give up 16-0 runs," Miller said. "We struggled to score there a little bit, but we were able to withstand it and got through the second quarter."

Gulf Coast led by nine at halftime and led 45-29 with 17:35 to play. Northeast was able to trim the deficit to four points over the next five minutes, but Barry stroked a right-win 3-pointer to make it 52-45.

"He made a big 3 when we were reeling a little bit," Miller said. "He was good defensively. He made some timely shots."

Kalinowski followed with another 3 to get the lead back to double-digits, but the Tigers (19-2) got as close as 54-51 with 5:18 left. The Bulldogs made 9-of-10 free throws after that to ice the win.

NEMCC struggled at the charity stripe, finishing 10-of-24. The Tigers show only 26.1 percent from the 3-point line, while the Bulldogs made 8-of-19.

"They've got a good team," Miller said. "We got a good win and protected home court. Hopefully, this can propel us to continue to play better. We got a lot of production from a lot of different guys. I thought our will was where it needed to be the last five minutes."

For more information on MGCCC's 12 intercollegiate athletic teams, follow @MGCCCBulldogs on Twitter and MGCCCBulldogs on Facebook, and go to mgcccbulldogs.com.