BATON ROUGE, LA — The Bears got the just the boost of momentum that they needed heading into an extended break Monday following a 75-71 road win in overtime against BRCC.

“You are not going into that break thinking what you could have done different or could have done better,” Southwest head coach Corey Schmidt said. “Obviously there are some things that we have to clean up, it is not like it was beautiful or perfect but it is a lot better to learn from a win than from a loss.”

Southwest (7-5) got a big contribution from Mark Drone making his return after missing Saturday’s loss against LSU-Eunice. The freshman guard picked up where he left off scoring 25 points to lead the way for Southwest.

“I just let the game come to me,” he said. “I didn’t rush it and I took the open shots.”

Around eight minutes into the game, Drone had already accounted for half of the visitors’ first 14 points. The hosts eventually got into rhythm as well and narrowed the gap to one at 21-20 with about 7:00 to go in the half.

But Southwest answered right back with a big 21-4 rally to close out the half taking a 42-24 lead into the intermission.

During the beginning stages of the second half, Southwest went cold offensively while also having trouble slowing down Baton Rouge on the other end of the floor.

Southwest lost its lead at the 8:56 mark but quickly regained the upper hand. Down the stretch, both teams traded the lead before the host Bears got a rebound and a put-back at the buzzer, tying the game at 66 and forcing overtime.

During the overtime period, Southwest took a three point lead following a basket by Joe Holloway but it was answered on the other end by a 3-pointer from Baton Rouge tying the game at 71.

With just under a minute to go and the score still tied, Holloway took matters into his own hands, knowing that he had to step up for his team. The team captain sank a 3-pointer from the top of the arch putting the visitors up 74-71.
“I felt like I had to win the game for us,” he said. “I took the shot and it went in. They (Baton Rouge) had a pressure defense. I swung the ball to the left and they swung it back to me. I was wide open and I just shot.”

During the next possession, Holloway added a free throw putting the icing on the cake and giving Southwest the win.

He along with Jahshawne Joseph finished with 14 points in the win.

Southwest will now enjoy the holiday break before returning to action on Jan. 5 at 6 p.m. with a road contest at Co-Lin to open conference play.