SUMMIT — When standout center Nic Gamble encountered early foultrouble, many fans in the near-capacity crowd thought the SouthwestCommunity College Bears were in for a long night. Not to worry,there were plenty of other players ready to take Gamble’s place asthe Bears roared to a 72-56 Monday night victory over the outmannedWolves in Holmes Gymnasium.

Southwest raised its record to 9-14 overall and 6-7 in the SouthDivision. Co-Lin slipped to 10-12 and 5-8.

“Jimmy Smith came in and held his ground when Nic was in foultrouble,” said Southwest men’s coach Bill Wallace. “It was a goodwin for our sophomores since it was their last home game.”

Wallace’s Bears conclude their season Thursday night atMeridian. Co-Lin is home to Hinds Thursday night. Both teams appearto be out of contention for a state tournament berth.

Smith, a 6-foot-5 sophomore from Mendenhall, accounted for 9points and 6 rebounds. The Bears got a team-high 15 points fromToby Coleman, a 6-5 sophomore from Mt. Hermon, La. Chris Watson, a6-5 freshman from Edwards had 13 points. D.J. Jones and Gamble eachhad 10 points.

“Southwest put a nice little whipping on us, especially in thesecond half,” said Co-Lin men’s coach Dennis Sims. “Our kidshaven’t made shots for two games.

“When Gamble got in foul trouble, they stuck together and did agood job. Number 44 (Smith) was a big part of their success.”

The Bears led 36-32 at halftime and gradually increased theirmargin. Wallace said his team’s zone defense caused Co-Linproblems.

“We were covering where their shooters are,” said Wallace.

Back-to-back treys by Coleman increased Southwest’s lead to 13points, 50-37, with 14:08 left in the game. The Bears dominated thebackboards.

Southwest got 3 backboard-rattling, crowd-pleasing dunks in thelast 4 minutes of the game as the Bears avenged a 71-56 Jan. 22loss at Co-Lin.

Sims said his team is lacking any form of inside strength sincecenter Derek Jarvis went down with a torn ACL three weeks ago. “Weare at zero in our post.”

Offensively, Co-Lin got 19 points from sophomore forward JeremyRichardson. Guards Ledell Eackles and Dexter Middleton netted 13and 10 points respectively.