WESSON – On Valentine’s Day, the Co-Lin Wolves suffered aheart-breaking setback. Co-Lin’s fans groaned Monday night asMarcus Hooten’s short, off-balance, last-second shot on an inboundspass rolled off the rim, allowing the East Central Warriors toescape with a 61-60 win in Mullen Gymnasium.

Most of all, the loss virtually eliminated Co-Lin (9-11, 5-6) froma berth in next week’s MACJC State Tournament at Co-Lin. EastCentral (12-10, 6-5) must lose to Pearl River and Co-Lin must beatJones County on the road Thursday to knock the Warriors out of theSouth Division’s No. 4 spot.

In the women’s game, Co-Lin’s Lady Wolves (19-1, 11-0) whipped EastCentral 81-55, securing a tighter grip on No. 1 seeding in theSouth Division race. The state tournament, featuring the top fourteams out of the North and South Divisions, starts Monday in MullenGymnasium.

The Wolves overcame a disastrous first half and a 16-point deficitto take a 54-52 lead with 4:23 left to play when Hooten drained atrey from the corner. Hooten finished with a game-high 25points.

Co-Lin led by 4 points, 56-52, with 3:14 showing, before EastCentral’s Kegan Houston sank back-to-back treys for a 59-59 knot.Keondre Hodges then stole Co-Lin’s inbounds pass, drew a foul andmade both free throws for a 61-59 lead with 43 seconds left.

“We had a horrible, horrendous first half,” said Co-Lin men’s coachDennis Sims. “At the end, we were a little worse than they were. Weonly made 12 of 23 free throws.”

Sims said foul trouble neutralized his two post players, T.J.Kosile and Maurice Williams. Both had 3 personal fouls in the firsthalf.

The Warriors were sparked by Houston, a 5-11 sophomore fromQuitman, who sacked 21 points, including 4 treys. East Central got13 points from 6-9 center Bilal Kelley, a sophomore fromPhiladelphia, Pa.

The Lady Wolves, ranked No. 9 in the NJCAA National Poll, helpedCo-Lin observe Breast Cancer Awareness and Co-Lin 4-A-Cure, bywearing pink wrist bands and socks with pink trim. Franklin Countyproduct Paige Webster scored 16 points and grabbed 8 rebounds inthe victory. Brandi Simmons and Jasmine Belton scored 12apiece.

“We kind of went through the motions,” said Co-Lin women’s coachGwyn Young, describing his team’s final home game. “We had somespurts and we outran them down the court.”

East Central (8-14, 3-8), coached by Bill Smith and assisted byNorth Pike product Britta Stephens, got 10 points each fromQuentinette Odom and Shana Ward.