Bulldogs win big to earn 8-seed

Mississippi Gulf Coast punctuated its MACCC men's basketball regular season with a 93-76 win at Copiah-Lincoln in the final Monday at Wesson, earning the Bulldogs a home playoff game.

Gulf Coast (17-11, 7-7 MACCC) will host Baton Rouge, the Louisiana Community College Athletic Conference champion, at Dantzler Arena on Thursday. Tipoff time will be announced Tuesday.

"Anytime you can play at home in the playoffs, it's a good thing," Gulf Coast coach Owen Miller said. "We've just got to have a good practice tomorrow and Wednesday and we'll put our best foot forward."

The Bulldogs beat the Bears 85-83 in Baton Rouge on Jan. 9.

Five Bulldogs finished in double digits, led by Za'Kariyea Hamilton (Fr., Jackson/Clinton) with 20 while pulling down a team-high eight rebounds. Matthew Hinton (Fr., Atlanta, Ga./Dutchtown) had 15 points on 4-of-5 shooting from the floor and 7-of-8 from the charity stripe.

Jabbari Barry (So., Lake Charles, La./Barbe) finished with 14. Kaue Kalinowski (So., Curitiba, Brazil/Divine Savior) had 13, and Aujaylen Barron (Fr., Gulfport/Harrison Central) chipped in 11.

There were 39 fouls called in the second half, which turned into repeated processions to the free-throw line. The teams combined for 77 free throws, with Gulf Coast making 30 of 42 (71.4 percent).

Gulf Coast's bench outscored Co-Lin's subs 40-28. Co-Lin finished the year 11-15, 3-11.

"We played well on both ends," Miller said. "We had five guys in double figures and shot over 50 percent from the field. We shot it well and defended, and we took care of things at both ends of the glass."

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