Southwest Mississippi’s men’s basketball team edged Mississippi Gulf Coast 73-72 in a comeback victory during their first home game of 2026 on Jan. 20. The Bears, who started slow and went scoreless for the first five minutes, fell behind 8-0 before Chidi Nwosu hit a 3-pointer to get his team on the board.
With 9:21 left in the first half, Cy Merrett scored an old-fashioned three-point play, tying the game. He then assisted Leano Rolle on a lob, giving Southwest Mississippi its first lead. The Bulldogs remained competitive, but Mississippi Gulf Coast took a 32-29 lead into halftime.
In the second half, the Bears again struggled offensively early, allowing the Bulldogs to open with a 7-0 run. Southwest Mississippi found itself down by 10 points with 14:53 remaining. A burst of three-pointers from Merrett and Courterius Scott erased the deficit, putting the Bears ahead with less than 10 minutes to play.
The game featured 10 lead changes, and with 2 minutes remaining, Mississippi Gulf Coast led by five. The Bears responded with a late rally, closing to within one point with 23 seconds left. An errant shot by the Bulldogs led to a rebound and a fast-break layup by Scott, who scored the game-winning basket with 9 seconds remaining.
Scott finished with 21 points, and Merrett added 16. Chidi Nwosu scored 15 for the Bears, who improved to 8-10 overall and 2-0 in conference play. Coach Schmidt praised his team’s resilience, saying, “Just really proud of the guys’ fight and effort to stay focused and get to the next thing. There was a lot of momentum swings, but they stayed focused and locked in.”
The Bears will travel to Decatur on Jan. 22 to face East Central Community College.
