Bulldogs pull away from Trojans

PERKINSTON — Mississippi Gulf Coast moved within a game of the top of the MACCC on Monday by beating Mississippi Delta 85-68 at Dantzler Arena.

It was the third straight win for the Bulldogs, who improved to 17-4 overall, 4-2 in the conference. They are tied for fourth, one game back of Jones and Itawamba.

"Weird game," Gulf Coast coach Owen Miller said. "We got off to a slow start, and credit that to Delta, and then the water jug incident. It was a long break. But I thought after that we got going a little bit. In the second half, Duran got us going offensively."

Sophomore point guard Duran Parish (So., Biloxi/Biloxi) scored 23 of his 29 points in the second half, making 5-of-7 from behind the 3-point arc. He also dished out nine assists. 

Zakariyya Dwight (Fr., Cordele, Ga./Crisp County) had 15 points off the bench, and King George (Fr., Olive Branch/Olive Branch) added 10 points and eight assists.

The Bulldogs were behind by a bucket when a Delta player crashed into the cart with the water cooler at the end of his bench with about six minutes into play. He was uninjured, but a nearly full cooler spilled on the court. Drying the court took almost 20 minutes.

Delta pushed its lead to six, and it took a 9-2 run started by a Parish free throw and ended with a 3-pointer to give the Bulldogs a 25-24 lead they'd never relinquished. They were up 10 at halftime after grabbing 14 offensive rebounds that led to 17 second-chance points. Delta had only 16 boards in the first half. 

"That's one of our strengths," Miller said. "That's one of the things we do."

The Trojans cut their deficit to 51-45 there minutes after halftime, but a quick 12-4 surge increased Gulf Coast's cushion and helped put the game away.

"Our defense picked up, especially our press," Miller said. "We were able to fatigue them there, especially those last eight minutes. A lot of their shorts were short. It's a good win. They're all good."

Delta, playing for the first time in 11 days after the ice storm that paralyzed Northwest Mississippi, is now 6-12, 0-5.

Gulf Coast travels to Scooba on Thursday to play East Mississippi. Tipoff is scheduled for 7:30 p.m.

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