Gulf Coast ends skid, gets revenge

PERKINSTON — Mississippi Gulf Coast survived a scare Thursday and avenged a loss earlier this season by beating Hinds 86-82 at Dantzler Arena.

The Bulldogs scored the first 11 points of the game but trailed at halftime and by seven early in the second half before rallying despite the flu running through the team.

"We needed that," Gulf Coast coach Owen Miller said. "I'm really pleased with our toughness and just getting a job done. The off date couldn't come at a better time. We need this couple of days here to regroup and get well, but I'm really pleased with our performance. We did a lot of things wrong, but found a way to win, and that's something we hadn't done the last two outings."

Duran Parish (So., Biloxi/Biloxi) led Gulf Coast with 20 points and had 10 assists for a double-double. Jaron LeMelle (Fr., Birmingham, Ala./Langston Hughes) had 14 points, as did King George (Fr., Olive Branch/Olive Branch). Maddox Noblitt (Fr., Ocean Springs/Ocean Springs) added 10 with a team-high eight rebounds.

Gulf Coast improved to 15-4 and got back to .500 after four MACCC games by snapping a short skid.

Hinds won the first meeting between the teams on Dec. 12, beating Gulf Coast 88-85 in a non-conference game in Utica.

The Bulldogs were up 11-0 before Hinds scored its first basket three minutes in. They built the lead to 12 but saw it evaporate after a 6-0 run in the final two minutes put Hinds up 37-34.

They trailed 43-36 about 90 seconds after halftime, but started to claw back. LeMelle punctuated a 13-2 run with three straight buckets down low for a 61-55 advantage.

"He came in and got us some big buckets," Miller said. "We were able to get it to him close to the rim, and he had some good finishes."

The Bulldogs led by eight with four minutes left, but Hinds kept fighting, getting to within 83-82 with 45.8 seconds left.

Parish made a free throw, and after a defensive stop, he got a run-out dunk for the exclamation mark in the final seconds.

Gulf Coast continued its pattern of feast or famine from the free-throw line. The Bulldogs made only 19 of 34.

"We've got to make them," Miller said. "We've shot them really good, or we haven't shot them good. We've got to find to be a little bit more consistent there."

Hinds is 10-9, 0-3.

Gulf Coast has its conference open date on Monday, and the Bulldogs will travel to Decatur on Jan. 29. Tipoff against East Central is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. 

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