Coahoma Community College pulled away from Southeast Arkansas College in the second half on Monday to hand the Sharks their first men’s basketball loss, 78-65, at the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff’s H.O. Clemmons Arena.
It’s a place Coahoma coach Dell Cannon is quite used to. Cannon was an assistant under George Ivory at UAPB before taking over the Tigers in 2021.
“It felt really good coming back,” Cannon said. “Pine Bluff is like my second home. It felt really good to come back and see a lot of familiar faces in the crowd. I love it.”
The Clarksdale, Miss.-based Tigers (6-0) outscored SEARK 47-34 in the second half. They made 18 of 29 field-goal attempts in the second half, relying mostly on a fastbreak game to wear down the Sharks (4-1). Coahoma finished 28 of 58 (48.2%) from the field and 15 of 21 from the foul line.
“We couldn’t keep them in front,” Sharks coach Chad Kline said. “I thought they started pounding the glass. We had too many loose balls.”
Independent reporting for Pine Bluff & Jefferson County since 1879.
Louzavious Thomas was one of five Tigers to score in double figures. Thomas had 15 points and eight rebounds, Jaidan Rankins and RiCarvis Waters each had 14 points, and Denquarryious Robison and Jonathan Noudjihidi each scored 13.
“We regrouped. We started boxing out and we started sharing the basketball,” Cannon said. “We took care of the ball and we started figuring out a way to win.”
SEARK led by as much as 26-20 in the first half and went into the locker room tied at 31-all, thanks in large part to Derek Magwood’s 14 points at the break. He finished with 21 points and 10 rebounds, while Jalen Brown dropped in 12 points and Jehu Wright 9 in the loss.
The Sharks shot 21 for 60 (35%) from the floor, leaving Kline displeased with the shot selection.
“Obviously, half of that falls on me for allowing that shot to be taken,” he said. “We’ll learn from it and we’ll move on. As I say all the time, there were going to be four games where you were so good, you didn’t have a chance to lose, and there were going to be four games where you were so bad, you didn’t have a chance to win. What are you going to do with the 20 games in the middle where you’re not your best or not your worst? I thought that was one of those games we let slip away. I thought our execution late in the game was not very good.”
SEARK also made just 11 of 20 free throws.
The Sharks had gotten off to a quick start in their inaugural basketball season, beating the Champion Christian College reserve team twice, LeMoyne-Owen College junior varsity and Phillips Community College of the University of Arkansas. But as Kline suspected, the NJCAA Division II Sharks were going to get their toughest challenge yet from a Division-I team that plays in the talent-rich Mississippi Association of Community Colleges Conference.
Tobias Prall, who had 8 points, drained a 3-ball with 5:03 left to bring SEARK within 59-57 with 5:03 left. Offensive rebounding and scoring off the dribble allowed Coahoma to pad that margin down the stretch.
“I almost felt like, because we haven’t been down very much this season, that even when it’s a 3-, 4- or 5-point game late, I almost felt like we panicked a little bit,” Kline said.
SEARK’s men’s and women’s teams will return to action this weekend at the Arkansas/Texas Challenge at UA-Cossatot’s Lockesburg gym. They will play Dallas College Mountain View on Friday (women at 1 p.m. and men at 3 p.m.) and Dallas College Richland on Saturday (women at 9 a.m. and men at 11 a.m.).
The next home date for both SEARK teams is Dec. 2 against UA-Cossatot.