A great start Monday night at home almost ended in a bad finish for the Jefferson Davis Community College Warhawk basketball team, but they pulled out a 72-59 win over Wallace State-Selma.
The win allowed JDCC to improve their record to 11-12 overall and 8-6 in conference play.
“We did what we had to do to win,” JDCC Warhawk head coach Allen Gainer said. “We had a great start and that is the penalty you get when you have a great start is we thought the game was over and it was not over. We had a good first half and that puts us in great shape to finish in the top four in conference and get a first round bye. Hopefully we can get a win Thursday and that will seal it up for us. We have to play both halves though. This was a good win for us.”
JDCC jumped out to a 7-0 lead with 18:02 left in the first half and after having their lead cut to five points with 11:13 left, built a 20-point lead with 3:21 left to play before the half.
Wallace State-Selma ended the first half on a 7-0 run as JDCC led by 13 points at the half, 39-26.
In the second half, the Warhawks used a 6-0 run to claim a 52-34, 18-point lead, with 12:08 left in the game. Wallace State used a 10-0 run to cut the Warhawk lead to 52-44 with 7:49 left and later cut the Warhawk lead to six points, 55-49, with 5:15 left in the game.
The Warhawks would later grab a 60-49 lead at the 3:46 mark only to see Wallace cut the lead to seven points, 62-55, at the 2:57 mark in the game.
The Warhawks would outscore the Patriots 10-4 the rest of the way to get the 13-point win as both teams scored 33 points in the second half.
JDCC shot 17-for-22 from the free throw line in the game (10-for-11 in first half and 7-for-11 in second) while Wallace was 12-for-18 (5-for-6 in first and 7-for-12 in the second half).
Braylon Lazare led the Warhawks in scoring and was one of three in double figures with 18 points. Turmonte Ragland followed with 16 points and Gabriel Rice had 10.
Travis Allen and Brandon Scott had seven points each and Larel Jackson and Chris Peak had five points each.
Adam Stumpf and Derell Washington chipped in two each.
The Warhawks will travel to Bishop State Thursday and close out their regular season Thursday, Feb. 24, at home against Chattahoochee Valley.
Game times are set for 7 p.m.