By By BRUCE HIXON Sports Editor
They have lost big and they have lost small. They have lost at home and lost on the road.
For the most part though, the Jefferson Davis Community College Warhawks have found frustrating way after frustrating way to lose games.
JDCC's losing streak reached nine games (11 on the court) Saturday when it dropped an 82-71 overtime non-conference decision at home to the Northwest Shoals Patriots.
Saturday looked like the day JDCC (2-12) would stop its losing skid. The Warhawks were able to overcome a six-point deficit with four minutes left and a five-point hole with just over two minutes to go.
Sam Smith erased the latter during the next minute. Smith was fouled on a three-point attempt and hit all three charity tosses that trimmed Northwest Shoals' lead to 65-63. After a defensive stop, Smith scored from inside the lane and tied the game at 65-65.
With just under a minute to go, Northwest Shoals (6-10) tried to take as much time as possible off the game clock. The Patriots wound up exhausting the 35-second clock and got just an air ball on a three-point attempt by Jessie Clard with 21 seconds left.
JDCC's Cory Webb was fouled with 13 seconds left and hit both attempts of the super bonus that put the Warhawks up 67-65.
JDCC was unable to preserve that lead. Webb fouled Clard with eight seconds left and he hit both shots to tie the game again at 67-67. The free throw line as a whole was a kind place to the Patriots where they hit 17 of 20 attempts (85 percent).
With eight seconds still left, the Warhawks still had time to set up a potential winning shot. Webb got behind the defense for a layup, but his shot bounced off the rim and the game went into overtime.
Given a new life, Northwest Shoals took full advantage in overtime. Tenadre Boynton, who led the visitors with 18 points, hit a three-pointer in the opening moments of overtime that put the Patriots back on top and they never relinquished the lead.
Michael Ansley was the big hero for Northwest Shoals in overtime with with back-to-back hoops midway through the extra session that bumped the lead up to 76-69 and three free throws in the final minute that secured the win.
Regulation play featured 14 lead changes and neither team led by more than six points.
JDCC had a pair of six-point cushions in the first half, an 8-2 lead after a bucket by Arthur Richardson three minutes into the game and a 19-19 advantage after Jairus Jackson's fastbreak bucket with seven minutes left in the half.
Despite those leads, the Warhawks had to rally in the final minute of the first half to grab a 34-32 halftime edge thanks to Kedric Wilson's three-pointer and two-pointer.
JDCC clung to a 57-54 lead with just over seven minutes left when Northwest Shoals made a move. The Patriots got a pair of hoops from Michael Ansley and a pair of perimeter shots, one of which was a trey, by Josh Staggs over the next three minutes and moved in front 63-57.
Once the Patriots got the lead late in regulation, they became conservative, too conservative on offense. They had three straight possessions where they ran the shot clock down only to have to put up desperation shots.
JDCC, which played at Wallace State-Selma Tuesday, is in action at Southern Union Saturday at 7:30 p.m. Both games are Alabama Community College Conference games.
At JDCC
Northwest Shoals 32 35 15 – 82
JDCC 34 33 4 – 71
NORTHWEST SHOALS (2FG-3FG-FT-TP) Boynton 4-1-7-18; Ansley 6-0-3-15; Staggs 1-4-0-14; Clard 4-0-2-10; Hamilton 4-0-0-8; Brandon K. Davis 3-0-1-7; Chase 2-0-0-4; Brandon O. Davis 0-0-2-2; Ferguson 1-0-0-2; Copeland 0-0-2-2 (Totals: 25-5-17-82)
JDCC (2FG-3FG-FT-TP) Ford 6-2-1-19; Smith 3-1-5-14; Wilson 3-2-1-13; Richardson 2-1-0-7; Myers 1-0-4-6; Jackson 1-0-2-4; Webb 1-0-2-4; McMullen 1-0-0-2; Spann 1-0-0-2 (Totals: 19-6-15-71)