Beeville, Tx 
The Coastal Bend Cougars (15-7, 8-3) hosted the #8 Lee College Navigators (19-3, 11-0) Wednesday night.

 

The Den and the Cougars smothering defense welcomed the top ranked Navigators with a bang as the Cougars jumped out to an 8-0 lead the first 1:30 of the game. Back to back three pointers by Sophomore Breion Powell and a layup by Sophomore Malik Nash helped set the tone of the night. The Cougars would stretch their lead to 10 with a three point basket by sophomore Taevon Anderson by the eleven minute mark.

 

The Navigator's attempts to cut down the lead were matched each time with clutch baskets by the Cougars. Powell's back to back buckets late in the half would extend the lead to twelve, 32-20. Lee would respond with a 12-2 run and find themselves within 2, 34-32 with only 2 and a half remaining in the half. Freshman Peter Mckey would drain a contested three to push the lead up to 5. Keeping their distance the entire first half the Cougars took a half time lead into the locker room, 39-36. 

 

The second half would be a mixture of dog fight and chess match as both teams adjusted their strategies in the locker room. For 5 minutes the lead yo-yoed from 5-7 points in favor of the Cougars until a late shot clock three from McKey extended the lead to 9 and a beautiful dime from Freshman Willie Williams to Anderson pushed it to eleven with 10 minutes to go on the clock. McKey would strike again with a deep three off of the inbound pass to move the Cougar lead to its largest margin of 14 by the nine minute mark, 64-50.

 

Lee would battle back the next 5 minutes and close the gap to 2 going on a 14-2 run, 66-64. McKey and the Fighting Cougars would answer the call with a step back three to push the lead once again to five points. The Cougars would keep the Navigators at bay until the last buzzer with Coastal Bend defeating the Top ranked Navigators 82-78!     

 

Key players of the game: Freshman Peter McKey led all scorers with 23 points on 4-6 from three point land. Sophomore Malik Nash poured in 14 points and 10 assists while Freshman Willie Williams followed closely with 15 points and 5 blocks. Sophomore Breion Powell also aided in the victory with 13 points and 5 boards. The win improves the Cougars record to 16-7, 9-3 in conference play. They will host Jacksonville College on Saturday. The loss drops the Navigators to 19-4, 11-1 in conference play.                  

 

 

(by Brandon Martinez Men's Basketball Assistant)