By BY BRUCE HIXON – SPORTS EDITOR
The list of &#8220what ifs” was a long one, but the usual look of disappointments that go with double-overtime losses was not evident on the face of Jefferson Davis Community College Warhawks basketball coach Allen Gainer after his team fell 99-96 at home to the Enterprise-Ozark Boll Weevil Thursday.
The loss all put the Warhawks (4-20 overall and 2-12 in the Alabama Community College Conference) on the brink of elimination from the upcoming state tournament. JDCC fell into a position where it had to win at Faulkner State Saturday and Thursday's home and regular season finale against L.B. Wallace, while L.B. Wallace had to lose its final two games against Bishop State and JDCC.
Enterprise never led until the overtime sessions.
The Warhawks had a 58-47 lead with 10 minutes left and still led 70-62 lead with just over three minutes left.
JDCC missed a chance to close out the game in the waning moments of regulation, but left the door open when it missed three free throws, one of which was the front end of a one-and-one. The last of those misses came with 10.3 seconds left and the Warhawks up 76-73.
JDCC passed up a chance to foul Enterprise (8-13 overall and 7-7 in the ACCC) before it could get off a three-point shot to tie the game. Instead it tried to win the game with its defense, but Defondre Young hit a leaning three-point shot from the top of the key through double coverage just before the buzzer to tie the game at 76-76.
JDCC also had a chance to close out the game in the first overtime after DaWaun Johnson's three-pointer with 32 seconds left put the Warhawks up 88-86, but Derrick Webster was fouled with 15 seconds left and hit two free throws to tie the game again at 88-88.
The Boll Weevil scored the first seven points of the second overtime, but back-to-back three-pointers by Tim Rodgers brought JDCC within 95-94 with 2:57 left.
A defensive stop gave the Warhawks a chance to take the lead, but a steal and layup by Brandon Barry put Enterprise up 97-94.
Lyndon Butler brought the Warhawks within 97-96 when he hit two free throws with 1:32 left. JDCC gave itself a chance to take the lead with back-to-back defensive stops, but came up empty with back-to-back misses.
The Warhawks still had a chance to tie after a bucket by Webster made it 99-96 with nine seconds left, but never got off a three-point attempt.
At JDCC
Enterprise 37 39 12 11 - 99
JDCC 40 36 12 8 - 96
ENTERPRISE (2FG-3FG-FT-TP) Young 3-5-2-23; Barrow 9-0-3-21; Webster 4-0-8-16; Porter 4-1-2-13; Griffin 2-2-0-10; Head 3-0-2-8; Mills 1-1-0-5; Hart 0-1-0-3 (Totals: 26-10-17-99)
JDCC (2FG-3FG-FT-TP) Johnson 9-5-1-34; Rodgers 4-4-0-20; Griffin 2-1-2-9; Smith 1-2-1-9; Edmonson 2-0-2-6; Tunberg 3-0-0-6; Kelley 1-0-2-4; Butler 0-0-4-4; Owens 1-0-0-2; Martin 1-0-0-2 (Totals: 24-12-12-96)