Paris, Tx- Coastal Bend men's basketball faced Paris Junior College on the evening of December, 5th for a Region XIV Conference match-up. After losing the first two conference games and four straight, the Cougars were hunting for a much needed victory against the Dragons.
The contest started of slow with solid defensive play from both the Cougars and Dragons. As time ticked away in the first half, Coastal Bend and Paris duked it out going back in forth in scoring. The score at intermission would be all tied up at 29.
During the second half of the ball game, the Cougars would find themselves up, 49-41 on the Dragons with 12 minutes remaining. From that point on, Coastal Bend would control the tempo of the game and would start draining threes from deep with shooting from Royce Hunter, Charles Callier and Brian Payton. Every time Paris had an opportunity to cut into the lead, the Cougars were right there with stingy defense to help keep the pace and margain differential. Coastal Bend ended up pulling away from the Dragons, defeating them by a final score of 80-68.
Coastal Bend Guard, Royce Hunter completed the with 24 points, shooting 4-9 from three point range while grabbing four boards, two assists and two steals. Charles Callier finished the contest with 16 points shooting 4-6 from deep, with six rebounds. Point Guard, Brian Payton paced the Cougars with 12 points and tallied five assists and two steals. Gerald Thomas chipped in 12 points while recording three rebounds, three assists and two steals on the night for CBC.
This win not only snaps a four game losing skid, but marks the first Region XIV Conference victory of the season for CBC. The Cougars currently posses an overall record of 4-5 on the season while ending the fall semester, 1-2 during conference play.
Coastal Bend's next game will be at Home on January, 4th at 7:30 PM vesrus Navarro College as they resume play in conference.