Dee Jay Braggs poured in 27 points to help the Jefferson Davis Community College Warhawk basketball end their 10-game losing streak and pick up their first win overall and first conference win Thursday night at home against Alabama Southern.
The Warhawks improved to 1-10 overall and to 1-0 in conference with 86-79 overtime win over the Eagles.
JDCC led Alabama Southern 34-29 after the first half, but faltered in the second half as the visiting Eagles rallied with a 40-35 advantage to tie the game at 69-all and force the five-minute overtime.
JDCC led 60-50 with 7:34 left in the game and by five points, 67-62, with 5:09 left. From there, ASCC outscored JDCC 7-2 in the final 4:56 of the game.
In the extra period, the Warhawks used an 8-0 run to take an 82-72 lead with 3:01 left to play. From there, it looked as if the Eagles from Monroeville were going to mount another comeback as they went on a 6-0 run to cut the lead to 82-78 with 1:25 left in the overtime period. The Warhawks went on to end the game on a 4-1 run to get their first win by seven points.
“I knew we played a really, really tough (non-conference) schedule and I think it prepared us for this game,” JDCC head coach Allen Gainer said. “Certainly we did not want to be 0-10, but we knew it would be a possibility to lose some games early because we were playing a tough schedule. But all that gets us ready for a game like this. If we had not played all those good teams, we would not have been able to pull this one out. Corderrio Hasewood was really outstanding in helping us break the press. I don’t know what the statistics were, but I think Dee Jay played his best game so far this year. It was just a good win.”
Along with Braggs’ 27 points (eight in the first half, 10 in the second and nine in the overtime period), Chris Oden and Fletcher Forte finished in double figures for the Warhawks. Oden added 14 points and Forte finished with 13.
Anthony Bell and Kenny Nabors both finished with nine points each while Hasewood added eight. Matt Bass chipped in four points and Adrian Rich finished with two points in the win.
The Warhawks shot 16-for-29 from the free throw line in the win while ASCC was 10-for-18. ASCC fell to 3-11 overall and to 0-1 in conference play with the loss.
JDCC was 3-for-4 from the line in the first half, 10-for-22 in the second half and 3-for-3 in overtime. Alabama Southern shot 3-for-6 from the line in the first half, 6-for-9 in the second and 1-for-3 in overtime.
JDCC will be back in action Monday when they travel to Selma to take on Wallace State-Selma. The game will be a conference game and will start at 7:30 p.m. The Warhawks will play at LBW in Andalusia Thursday, Jan. 17, and will return home for a conference game against Chattahoochee Valley on Tuesday, Jan. 22. Game time is set for 7 p.m.