Gulf Coast men leap into 5th

PERKINSTON — Mississippi Gulf Coast won a key men's basketball showdown Monday at the Weathers-Wentzell Center against Northwest Mississippi and moved up an additional spot in the MACCC standings.

The Bulldogs won 99-87 in front of an energized Perk crowd to break a sixth-place tie with the Rangers. They vaulted past Southwest, which lost to Meridian in sole possession of fifth by percentage and the loss column.

"It was a big win, but Thursday is bigger," Gulf Coast coach Tim Ryan said. "It's a recurring theme when you're in conference. Your next game is the biggest game of the season. That's going to be a huge game."

Gulf Coast (15-5, 7-4 MACCC) plays at Southwest on Thursday. Tipoff in Summit will be at 6 p.m.

Melvion Flanagan (So., Peabody/Alexandria, La.) led all scorers with 25 points, and all five Gulf Coast starters finished in double digits. Lee Flenor (So., South Miami/Miami, Fla.) had a 10-point, 13-rebound double-double, and Anthony Ratliff (So., Terry/Jackson) had 12 points, seven rebounds and three blocks.

Carr Thiam (So., Wharton/Tampa, Fla.) had 18 points and six rebounds, and Donovan Sanders (Fr., Lake Cormorant/Walls) had 15 points.

The most noteworthy performance of the night probably came off the bench for Gulf Coast. Caleb McCarty (So., Biloxi/Biloxi) had six points, eight rebounds and a dominating eight blocked shots.

"He was tough," Ryan said. "That's what he does. He's so long, and he challenges guys. You get guys in there who are thin like him who don't challenge, but he plays stronger."

The Bulldogs appeared to be in control with six minutes to play leading 87-69. It was the biggest lead of the night, but the Rangers (13-6, 6-5) ripped off the next13 points over the next three minutes to make things uncomfortable.

"They hit some 3's and we couldn't score for just that short period of time," Ryan said. "We were stuck on 87 for a month. We had to get that settled down. We tried to slow it up with about five minutes to go, and maybe that was a little bit too early."

The Bulldogs promptly scored the next eight to put the game away. 

"I thought we moved the ball really well," Ryan said. "We got the ball side-to-side really well. We had 21 assists, which is way above our average."

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