WESSON — The Co-Lin Wolves nearly pulled out a win over theirSouth Division nemesis, the Pearl River Wildcats Thursday night. Inthe final seconds of the game, Co-Lin sophomore guard Dontae Dixonmissed a three pointer and sophomore center Derek Jarvis attempteda field goal at the buzzer as the Wolves fell to the Wildcats 69-68in Mullen Gymnasium.

The loss makes the Wolves 1-3 in the South and 6-7 overall. TheWildcats, coached by Richard Mathis, improved to 3-1 in the Southand 9-4 on the season.

Co-Lin head men’s basketball coach Dennis Sims felt the bigturning point in the game came a few minutes before halftime. With2:37 left until halftime, the Wolves led the Wildcats by 10 points,33-23, when team play began to deteriorate.

Pearl River tied the game at 33-all on a jump shot from freshmanguard Leron Magee with eight seconds remaining. The game remaineddeadlocked at the half.

“In the last couple of minutes in the first half, we had a10-point lead,” explained Sims. “Some guys played really poor. Inthe first 14 minutes of the second half, we threw the ballaway.

“We have guys we are counting on. In the last two games, theydon’t deserve to wear the uniform.”

The Wildcats built their lead to 11 points, 53-4,2 with 10:37left in the game. The Wolves battled back to take a brief 65-64lead with 1:55 on the clock on a three-pointer by sophomore guardJeremy Richardson.

Pearl River answered back with a dunk from 6-foot-6 sophomorecenter Ray Selvage to go ahead by one point, 66-65, at the 1:36mark.

With 25 seconds left to play, Richardson hit his fifth 3-pointerof the game to give Co-Lin a brief 68-67 lead. Pearl Riversophomore guard Carlos Cole nailed a field goal with eight secondsleft to push the Wildcats ahead 69-68 .

“It’s a hard loss to take,” added Sims. “We have to work hard.Our mental approach is not good. These guys have to grow up moreand get mentally stronger. We have the ability.”

Richardson powered the Wolves with 25 points, scoring 19 in thesecond half. Dartez Edwards finished with 12 points. Tops off thebackboards with eight rebounds was Jarvis followed by Richardsonwith six.

The leading scorer for Pearl River was freshman forward LarryBrackins with 24 points. Cole followed with 15 points and fourrebounds. The leading rebounder was Selvage.

Co-Lin travels to East Central Monday for two games. The womenbegin play at 6 p.m. followed by the men