January 28, 2022
The Warriors of East Central gave the Southwest Bears all they had on Thursday night, January 27, but the deep-ball from the Bears allowed Southwest to hang on for a 93-84 victory. With the loss, the Warriors fall to 4-10, 2-6 on the year, while the Bears improve to 12-6, 5-4.
The Bears took advantage of the three-pointer throughout the night, but primarily in the first half as they rattled in 11 deep shots in the opening 20 minutes of play. Despite the stellar shooting, the Warriors used their athleticism to hang around and refused to let the score get out of hand. Christopher Keys (Quitman) and Antwan Hatten (Laurel) led the way for the Warriors in the first half as ECCC trailed by nine, 52-43, going into the break.
The high-flying Southwest offense slowed in the second half as the Warriors limited the kick-out passes in an effort to stop the three-pointer, but ECCC could just never close the gap. The Warriors continued to leave it all on the floor throughout the second half and attacked the basket earning 18 free throw attempts. ECCC knocked down 16 of those helping keep the score around the 10-point range. Despite the effort in the final minutes, Southwest held the Warriors off to grab the nine-point win.
Keys led the Warriors with 25 points off the bench, while Hatton posted 19 in the contest. Demajion Topps (Winona) had a strong outing with 17 points, including 11-of-12 free-throw shooting.
The Warriors are back at home on Monday, January 31 as the team plays host to the Co-Lin Wolves. Tipoff is slated for 6 p.m. and fans that cannot attend can watch the game for free at www.eccclive.com/gold or by searching East Central Community College on their Roku and Firestick devices.
