WESSON — When Itawamba sophomore guard Mike Benson’slast-second, 3-point shot bounced off the rim at the buzzer, theCo-Lin men breathed a sigh of relief as the host Wolves held on toa 58-56 semifinal win over the Indians in the MACJC StateTournament Wednesday night in Mullen Gymnasium.

Co-Lin (19-7) faces Holmes (19-6) tonight at 7:45 p.m. for themen’s championship.

In yesterday’s other semifinals game, the Holmes Bulldogseliminated the Northwest Rangers 84-78.

Co-Lin 58, Itawamba 56

“We like to make things interesting,” said Co-Lin men’s coachDennis Sims after the win. “The win put us one step closer. I ampleased for my players.”

With 40 seconds left to play, Co-Lin freshman guard Corey Londonwas fouled and nailed a pair of big free throws to put the Wolvesup 58-54. Itawamba freshman guard Anthony Brock hit a field goal tocut the deficit to 2 points, 58-56 with 24 seconds left in thegame. The Indians recovered a loose ball with 5 seconds left buthad to inbound the ball the length of the court.

At halftime, Co-Lin led Itawamba 26-24.

Free throws became a big factor in the game last night. Co-Linwas 11 of 18 from the free-throw line while Itawamba was barely 50percent, making 16 of 31.

London, a freshman from Irondale, Ala., was the leading scorerfor the Wolves with 14 points, and 5 assists. Finishing with adouble-double, 13 points and 10 rebounds was sophomore forward GregTruvillion. Sophomore center Christian Marshall pumped in 12 pointsand pulled down 6 rebounds.

Itawamba, coached by Marty Cooper, finished 23-4. Leading theIndians with 16 points was Anthony Brock. Tim Green fired in 12points.

Holmes 84, Northwest 78

The Holmes men were powered by Derrick Huffman and RichardWorthy with 18 points apiece. Dean Hadley netted 16 points,Following with 12 points was Adrian Moore and Jeremy Cable with11.

Northwest (15-11) was led by Justin Nabors with 16 points,Firing in 15 points was Bobby Dillard. Brandon Byars scored 14points. Timi Izonfuo and Terry Jefferies had 11 points apiece.