SUMMIT – Willie Depron saw an opening and cashed it in. Deprondrained a buzzer-beating trey Thursday night, lifting the SouthwestCommunity College Bears to a thrilling 71-68 triumph over theCo-Lin Wolves in Horace C. Holmes Gymnasium.

A near-capacity crowd watched the game wind down to the finalseconds. Southwest coach Bill Wallace called a timeout with 22seconds left to play and again with 4.9 seconds showing to plan thefinal shot.

Guard Marcus Elliott was the No. 1 choice to take the shot buthe was covered so Depron converted the opportunity, setting off ahappy celebration among Southwest’s fans. Elliott, a 6-5 freshmanfrom Ft. Walton Beach, Fla., scored 20 points. Depron, a 6-1sophomore from White Castle, La., added 18 points as the Bearsimproved their record to 8-9 overall and 4-2 in the SouthDivision.

Co-Lin (7-10, 1-5), losing another heart-breaker, had tied thescore at 68-68 when Carl Minor scored on a putback with 28 secondsleft to play. The Wolves got a game-high 24 points from sophomoreforward Jerime Collier. Eleven points were provided by Jason Scott,Elliott Cowart and Derrick Jarvis.

Jarvis, a 6-foot-7 freshman from Natchez, battled 6-7 Southwestcenter Nic Gamble of Dexter for position in the paint most of thenight. Jarvis fouled out with 3:02 left in the game and Co-Lintrailing 68-63. Jarvis had 11 points and 6 rebounds to hiscredit.

Gamble accounted for 14 points and 5 rebounds, including 2dunks. The second dunk was a 2-handed slam and gave the Bears a66-61 lead with 5:01 left to play.

Co-Lin men’s coach Dennis Sims was disappointed with his team’sbreakdown on defense in the final seconds. “(Depron) made the shotso you have to give him a pat on the back. He buried the openlook.

“It was poor defensive play on our part,” Sims pointed out. “Itirritates the stew out of me when our kids play that hard but theystill give up junk baskets.”

Sims said both teams played hard in the game. “The effort wasgood. We’ve now lost four (games) by a total of 11 points.”

Scott led Co-Lin on the backboards with 8 rebounds.

Southwest coach Bill Wallace said the strategy at the end of thegame didn’t work out as planned. “We drew up a play to get the ballto No. 15 (Elliott) off a screen. I told Depron to pop out. It wasall him that did it.”

Wallace complimented Sims. “Coach Sims does a tremendous jobwith his team. They played so hard. I respect him as a coach. He’sa good friend of mine.”

Southwest trailed most of the first half as the Wolves sprang toan early 6-0 lead on a trey by Cowart, a free throw by Scott and aputback by Jarvis. The Bears got a trey from B.J. Griffith, afreshman guard from Picayune, with 6 seconds left in the half,giving the hosts a 34-33 advantage.