Bulldogs take down NE Tigers, 81-56, for Gulf District Championship
CLINTON, MS — The Holmes Community College Bulldogs captured the 2021 NJCAA Region XXIII Championship here Friday night at Mississippi College with an 81-56 dominating performance over the Northeast Mississippi Community College Tigers.
On their way to the championship, the Bulldogs took down No. 12 seed Gulf Coast in Goodman, 96-89, No. 4 seed LSU-Eunice in Eunice, La., 79-64, No. 1 seed Pearl River in Clinton, 61-58, and No. 2 seed Northeast to secure the championship. This will make the Bulldogs’ third trip to the NJCAA Tournament in Hutchinson, Kansas under Head Coach Jason Flanigan after appearing in 2015 and 2018 prior to this year.
Weatherspoon led the Bulldogs with 22 points while Talley had 20 and Higgins had 14. Weatherspoon had eight rebounds in the game to lead the Bulldogs.
The Bulldogs shot 47.3 percent from the floor (26-of-55), 44.4 percent from the three-point line (12-of-27) and 68 percent from the free throw line (17-of-25).
The Tigers shot 28 percent from the floor and only 9.7 percent from the three-point line and 82.6 percent from the free throw line. They had 3 in double figures, Kylan Blackmon, Ken Lewis, and Deandre Hypolite all contributed 10 points, Lewis and Hypolite off the bench. Zeke Cook was a beast on the boards with 16. NWMCC finishes their season at 15-4.
With the win, the Bulldogs went to 15-3 overall and enter the National Tournament as the #18 seed. HCC’s first game will be Monday, April 19 at 2:00 CDT, against Vincennes University (17-6) the runner-up in the Central District, and defending Champions. VU won it all in 2019, but last year’s tournament was canceled due to covid.
The NJCAA Division I Men’s Tournament features 24 teams – 16 automatic district qualifiers and eight additional at-large selections in a single elimination format. All 24 teams are seeded with the top 8 receiving byes. All 23 games of the Championship will be live streamed (for a small fee) on NJCAATV https://www.njcaa.org/network.
