Finklea (42) and Coleman (20) go for the rebound. Photo by Sharpy

FAIRFIELD, AL – Interim head coach Will Cothery earned his first win as a head coach in the victory over Paine College Lions 65-63 in overtime Saturday Night at Knox-Windham Gym.

Miles (2-15; 2-12) went to half up 8 points (31-23), while hitting 44 percent from the field, 66.7 percent at the line and 37.5 percent in 3-pointers. Paine (5-12; 5-9) shot 32 percent on the floor and 83.3 percent on the free throw line.

For the game, the Golden Bears scored on 21-of-53 (39.6%) shots, hit 5-of-18 (27.8%) three’s and made 18-of-35 (72 %) free throws. Paine made 20-of-53 (37.7%) shots from the field and 16-of-20 (80%) free throws.

Miles led by as much as 12 points with 8:11 to go in the first half , while out scoring the Lions in the paint 22-16, 27-19 off turnovers, 13-9 on second chance shots and 6-4 on fast breaks. Paine’s bench out scored Miles 36-14.

Stormy Pearson sank a two pointer in the second half to put the Golden Bears up 8 points (43-35) at the 12:22 mark, Julian English tied the game for Paine (45-45) with 8:18 remaining. Robert Johnson gave the Lions their largest lead of six points with 1:17 left. With 35 seconds left, D’Jari Nelson had a steal, and then tied the game sending it to overtime at (52-52) with 18 seconds left.

In overtime with 1:40 to go Paine went up by 4 points, but Stormy Pearson drained two free throws to tie it (63-63) with 1:03 to go. Miles Marcus Coleman drained the front end of a one-one with five seconds left for the go ahead score (64-63) and D’jari Nelson scored the final point (65-63) on the back end of a one-one.

Freshman forward’s Demetrius Finklea (Vreden Burgh, AL) and

Marcus Coleman (Memphis, TN) led the Golden Bears in scoring with a game-high 17 points apice. Finklea and sophomore center D’Jari Nelson (Chicago, IL) had a team-high 6 rebounds each and Nelson added 8 points and 4 blocks. Junior guard Stormy Pearson (Green County, AL) and junior forward Richard Harper (Jackson, MS) added 14 and 9 points and sophomore point guard Thomas Crockett (Chicago, IL) dished out a game-high 5 assist

Robert Johnson led the Lions with 13 points and Geno Green 7 rebounds.

Miles will travel to Fort Valley, GA on Tuesday, January 26 to play the Wildcats of Fort Valley State University at 8:00.