Holmes drops MGCCC in MACJC Tourney

SENATOBIA – Mississippi Gulf Coast got bounced from the first round of the MACJC Tournament by Holmes on Monday, losing 85-57 at Howard Coliseum.

Gulf Coast (16-8) shot just 28.8 percent from the field. It will play next week in the NJCAA Region 23 Tournament.

"They were better than us in every phase of the game," Gulf Coast coach Wendell Weathers said. "Our defense really wasn't that bad until at the end when we just quit. Our problem was they were so much tougher on defense than we were on offense, our guys never responded to that."

LaRaymond Spivery (Fr, Lucedale/George County) and Abdul Dial (So, West Palm Beach, Fla./Cardinal Newman) led Gulf Coast with 15 points each. Dial and DaJuan Moorer (Fr, Pensacola, Fla./Pensacola Catholic) had eight rebounds.

Gulf Coast battled foul trouble throughout the game. Spivery fouled out with 7:29 to play, and Qua'darius Green also picked up five fouls.

Dedoch Chan (Fr, Rochester, Minn./John Marshall) who leads Gulf Coast at nearly 20 points a game only scored twice. He played only 22 minutes.

MGCCC trailed by 12 at half and got within seven on Dial's 3-pointer with 9:49 to play. Holmes scored the next seven points to restore the cushion and gradually pulled away.

"This is not physical, it's all mental," Weathers said. "If they can physically regroup, we'll come back and we'll play. The people that win these tournaments are the people who want to keep playing."

For more information on MGCCC's 10 intercollegiate athletic teams, follow @MGCCCAthletics on Twitter and BulldogLIVE on Facebook, and go to mgcccbulldogs.com.