Down by 25 points, 67-42, with 7:45 left in the game Thursday night at home against Alabama Southern, the Jefferson Davis Community College Warhawk basketball team cut the lead to six with under a minute to play before falling by 10 points, 84-74.
JDCC trailed the Eagles of Alabama Southern 39-30 after the first half before falling 45-44 in the second half to lose by 10.
The loss dropped JDCC to 11-8 overall and to 5-3 in conference play after suffering their second straight conference loss.
“We only played for six minutes,” JDCC head coach Allen Gainer said. “It was a great comeback, but we did not play hard. We didn’t play with intensity, we didn’t play with a purpose for the first 34 minutes of the game. We played the last six minutes of the game and we executed our will on them and had a chance to win the game. In the first 34 minutes, we just went through the motions. Turmonte Ragland gave us a chance tonight. He got after it and he always plays hard.”
Down by 25 points in the second half, JDCC used a 10-0 run to turn a 67-42 deficit into a 67-52 deficit with 5:36 left in the game.
Alabama Southern would later grab an 18-point lead, 77-59, with 2:57 left in the game before the Warhawks stormed back with an 11-0 run to cut the lead to seven, 77-70, with 1:41 left in the game.
JDCC would get as close as six points, 80-74, but Alabama Southern would hit on four free throws to end the game with the 10-point win.
In the first half, JDCC led 23-17 with 9:08 left in the first half before the teams were tied at 26 with 5:08 left before halftime.
From there, Alabama Southern would use a 7-0 run to help outscore the Warhawks 13-4 to end the half with a nine-point lead.
JDCC shot 20-for-27 from the free throw line in the loss while Alabama Southern shot 13-for-24.
Ragland led JDCC with 32 total points including 23 in the second half. Sherman Presswood followed with 11 points and Larel Jackson added 10.
D.J. Jackson chipped in eight points and Brandon Scott finished with six. Gabriel Rice added five and Adam Stumpf had two points.
JDCC will be back in action Monday at LBW in Andalusia. Game time is set for 7 p.m. The Warhawks will return home Monday, Feb. 13 when they are scheduled to take on Chattahoochee Valley.