By BY BRUCE HIXON – SPORTS EDITOR
Pride, one final chance to end a double-digit losing streak and one last opportunity for its sophomores to suit up in a Jefferson Davis Community College uniform were just about all the Warhawks had to play for in Thursday's regular season finale against L.B. Wallace.
That was far from enough motivation for the Warhawks, as they stumbled into the offseason with an 83-51 home-court loss.
JDCC and L.B. Wallace (6-10 in the ACCC and 7-19 overall) had battled for the Alabama Community College Conference south division's final playoff spot for much of the season until the Saints secured the berth with a late postseason surge.
After back-to-back overtime losses to Enterprise and Faulkner State that eliminated JDCC (4-22 overall and 2-14 in the ACCC) from the postseason picture, the Warhawks did not have much left for the finale.
The Warhawks followed up 96 and 85-point outings in their two previous games by scoring just three points the first 10 and a half minutes against L.B. Wallace.
The Saints did not get off to a robust offensive start either, but did manage to open up a 12-3 lead during that stretch and never relinquished it.
A bucket by Norman Griffin and three hoops by DaWaun Johnson helped break the scoring drought by the Warhawks and got them within five points on three occasions, the last of which was a 21-16 deficit with 2:38 left in the half.
A pair of buckets by Pierre Collazo and one each by Terry Dunham and Darrell Johnson accounted for an 8-0 run that put the Saints' lead into double digits for the first time at 29-16.
A field goal by Chad Martin in the waning moments of the first half and another basket by Johnson off an assist from Lyndon Butler in the opening moments of the second half got the Warhawks within single digits at 29-20.
A trio of buckets by Shaun Crenshaw doubled the production of a three-pointer by Thomas Tunberg and put the Saints' lead back in double digits at 35-23 with 18 minutes left.
JDCC made one last charge, as a shot from the corner by Tim Rodgers followed by two buckets and a charity toss by Maurice Edmonson narrowed L.B. Wallace's lead to 35-30 with 1:03 left.
The Saints responded with a 26-6 run over the next eight minutes that swelled their cushion to 61-36, but also went on a 48-21 run to end the game.
L.B. Wallace scored 16 of the game's last 18 points over the last two and a half minutes, which included a pair of three-pointers by Darrell Johnson plus another trey and two dunks by Danny Wilson.
At JDCC
L.B. Wallace 29 54 - 83
JDCC 18 33 - 51
L.B. WALLACE (2FG-3FG-FT-TP) Coulazo 5-0-4-14; Ryce 5-0-0-10; Wilson 3-1-1-10; Johnson 1-2-1-9; Crenshaw 4-0-0-8; Wilson 2-0-3-7; Franklin 0-2-0-6; Dunham 3-0-0-6; Castrell 2-0-0-4; Williams 1-0-1-3; Griffin 1-0-0-2; Bradley 1-0-0-2; Jones 1-0-0-2 (Totals: 29-5-10-83)
JDCC (2FG-3FG-FT-TP) Johnson 8-1-0-19; Edmonson 5-0-1-11; Griffin 4-0-0-8; Kelley 0-1-0-3; Tunberg 0-1-0-3; Martin 1-0-0-2; Butler 1-0-0-2; Owens 0-0-1-1 (Total: 20-3-2-51)