In a game that was tight from start to finish, the Bears saw their four-game winning streak come to an end Monday night as they dropped a heart-breaker at Co-Lin, 72-69.
 
Despite the loss, the Bears remain in sole possession of 2^nd place in the MACJC South with a 7-4 record (13-7 overall). Co-Lin moved to 7-13, 2-9.
 
A pair of buckets and a free throw from Goodnews Kpegeol had the Bears on top 5-2 with 15:49 left in the opening half. A 14-6 run by Co-Lin then turned into a 16-11 deficit for the Bears.
 
The Bears then scored seven straight to regain the lead, 18-16, with 7:35 on the clock. The lead was short-lived, however, as an 18-5 scoring spree by Co-Lin gave the home team their biggest lead of the game, 34-23, with 3:26 left in the half.
 
The Bears quickly regained their composure as a Ryan Black three pointer closed out an 8-0 run that pulled the Bears to within 34-31 at intermission.
 
The teams traded baskets in the early going of the second half before a 14-4 run by the Bears, capped by a Drelon Pittman jumper, gave the Bears a 51-50 advantage with 9:36 left in the game.
 
Trailing 55-51, the Bears outscored Co-Lin 9-2 over the next 2:37 with a Damian Dear basket giving them a 60-57 lead with 5:45 still to play.
 
Co-Lin then scored 13 of the next 18 points to go on top 70-65 with 2:00 remaining.
 
A trio of free throws from Black cut the Bears' deficit to 70-69 with 0:08 on the clock, but a pair of Co-Lin free throws would seal the Bears' fate.
 
"Our effort was there from start to finish," said Bears head coach Bryan Bender. However, he said, "We shot the ball very poorly from three (point range) and they shot lights out; that was the difference in the score, obviously (the Bears were 4-14 from three-point range while Co-Lin hit 13 of 26)."
 
"We turned the ball over 20 times," Bender continued, "which (was) a little uncharacteristic of us and I thought kind of looked a little bit like our team of the first semester, playing a little bit for ourselves. We had  a good game plan, it was just at times a little bit of a struggle here and there. Co-Lin just played one of their best games of the year."
 
Kpegeol led all scorers in the game with 24 points while Black and Dear both tallied 12 points. The Bears hit 21 of 29 free throws.
 
Demarcus Ellzey led the Co-Lin offense with 23 points. He and his teammates combined to go 15-24 at the free throw line.
 
The Bears return to the court Thursday night to play their final home game of the season, and mark Sophomore Night, with a South Division contest against Jones. Tipoff is set for 7:15.