By By BRUCE HIXON – Sports Editor
Their first encounter with Bishop State was arguably the game that sent the Jefferson Davis Community College Warhawks on a downhill spiral that saw them drop eight of nine games.
The Warhawks can only hope Thursday's 71-63 victory on the Wildcats home court in Mobile will get them started in the right direction.
The Warhawks (9-17 overall and 5-9 in the Alabama Community College Conference south division), who lost to Bishop State 63-62 on a free throw with less than one second left last month, picked up the victory despite the fact it failed to get a single point from its bench personnel.
Three key figures stood out for the JDCC. Sophomores Kedric Wilson and Jairus Jackson combined for 26 first half points to help the Warhawks take a 34-27 halftime advantage.
Jackson buried three three-pointers in the first half and had five overall for the game on his way to a game high 19 points. Wilson did most of his damage in the first half where he scored 15 points on his way to equalizing Jackson's game high 19.
Perhaps the biggest contributor though was freshman Jeremy Cleveland, who notched 13 of his 16 points in the second half to help JDCC preserve its win.
The Warhawks extended their seven-point halftime lead up to double figures at 55-45 over the first 10 minutes of the second half and then withstood a Bishop State (11-15 overall and 4-9 in the ACCC south) rally down the stretch.
JDCC, which hosted L.B. Wallace Saturday, plays its final regular season home game Wednesday at 7 p.m. against Alabama Southern.
At Bishop State
JDCC 34 37 – 71
Bishop State 27 36 – 63
JDCC (2FG-3FG-FT-TP) Jackson 2-5-0-19; Wilson 6-1-4-19; Cleveland 6-0-4-16; Richardson 3-0-3-9; McKinney 1-2-0-8 (Totals: 18-8-11-71)
BISHOP STATE (2FG-3FG-FT-TP) Hill 2-3-3-16; Brown 4-0-4-12; Bowie 3-0-5-11; Coleman 1-1-3-8; Owens 3-0-0-6; Fore 0-2-0-6; Drakes 1-0-0-2; Pace 1-0-0-2 (Totals: 15-6-15-63)