Boll Weevils pick up big conference win

Enterprise State Community College’s Boll Weevils and Lady Boll Weevils traveled to Bishop State Community College on Jan. 23 for conference action.

The Boll Weevils were able to come away with a big 85-72 victory, while the Lady Boll Weevils struggled to a 74-47 loss.

The men were led by Josh Graham’s 23 points, while Ryan Davis and Mykil Wilson each chipped in with 18 points.

The Boll Weevils dominated both the first and second half in the win. ESCC took a 42-36 lead into halftime and then outscored Bishop State 43-36 in the second half.

“We played with a lot of energy last night,” ESCC coach Jermaine Williams said after the win. “(Bishop State) is a tough place to play but we took high percentage shots, the guys played together and we hit our layups. We’ve been struggling to do that lately and our defense was big.

We forced a lot of turnovers, which I think was key to the win. Our defensive pressure was big.”

The Lady Boll Weevils came out sluggish and fell behind 43-19 at halftime and just simply could never get on track after that.

Savannah Carty led the Lady Boll Weevils with 16 points, while Laken Cooks added 11 points in the loss.

Williams pointed to that slow start as a point of emphasis for his team going forward.

“The girls have been digging themselves into a big hole – down 16-20 points – early and having to come back to try and win,” he said. “That’s not how it works. It’s hard to ocme back and win when you get down so much.

“We have to learn to play with more energy in the first half if we’re going to win.”

One thing both the Boll Weevils and Lady Boll Weevils will get to enjoy in the coming weeks is being back at home as ESCC has played in five road games in January thus far.

Both the Boll Weevils and Lady Boll Weevils will get four home games in February, however.

“It will be big for us,” Williams said. “Not having to be on the road so late, it really wears the players out, so it will be big for the second half of conference for us to be able to not have to worry about getting back from road trips late and having our own fans there cheering for us.”