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FULTON – The visiting Lions of East Mississippi Community College won their ninth straight game and remained unbeaten in division play with a 61-50 road win over Itawamba Thursday night at ICC’s Davis Event Center. In the opener, the EMCC Lady Lions dropped a 61-45 decision to the Itawamba women.
In the nightcap, head coach Mark White’s EMCC Lions steadily built on their 26-21 halftime lead following intermission. With the margin reaching double figures midway through the second stanza, the visitors continued to stretch their advantage with timely offensive put-backs and solid defense. Held to 35-percent (17-of-49) shooting for the contest, a frustrated ICC contingent never did manage to cut into the Lions’ double-digit cushion down the stretch.
Improving to 12-2 overall and staying perfect at 5-0 within the MACJC’s North Division, the Lions’ 11-point victory marked their eighth consecutive series win over Itawamba dating back to the 2008-09 campaign. The EMCC men have now knocked off the Indians in Fulton four straight years. All but one of East Mississippi’s dozen victories on the season has come by double figures.
Featuring balanced scoring on the night, D.J. Evans and Tradarrius McPhearson paced the Lions with 12 points apiece. Transfer forward Colin Borchert followed with 11 points for the winners.
Without anyone scoring in double figures for the game, the Itawamba men fell to 7-9 overall and 3-2 in division play with the setback.
In the women’s contest, the Lady Lions’ offensive struggles continued as they were held within the 40-point range for the second straight contest. This past Monday in Moorhead, the EMCC women held on for a 40-39 win at Mississippi Delta despite a season-low team scoring effort.
After battling back from a 24-15 deficit to trim ICC’s advantage to 27-22 by the halftime break, the Lady Lions grabbed an early lead following intermission before incurring a lengthy scoring drought for a large portion of the second half. With the visitors stuck on 38 points for a six-minute stretch, the Lady Indians were able to mount a double-digit cushion and cruise to the 16-point home triumph.
Falling to 5-10 overall and 2-3 within the MACJC’s North Division, head coach Sharon Thompson’s EMCC Lady Lions were once again led by the sophomore backcourt tandem of Alvida Clemons and Chadisty Hickman with 16 and 15 points, respectively.
Remaining unbeaten in division play at 5-0 and improving to 14-2 overall on the year, the ICC Lady Indians received double-double efforts from Jameika Hoskins and Vechatita Bonner. Hoskins led all scorers with 20 points for the winners.
The East Mississippi Community College basketball teams return to Scooba for a pair of home hoops doubleheaders next week. After playing host to Coahoma on Monday (Jan. 30), the EMCC squads will entertain Holmes in a Thursday twinbill. Game times both days are set for 5:30 and 7:30 p.m. at EMCC’s Keyes T. Currie Coliseum.
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Last Updated ( Thursday, 26 January 2012 )
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MOORHEAD – In a pair of low-scoring contests, the East Mississippi Community College basketball teams pulled off a road sweep of Mississippi Delta CC Monday night in MACJC North Division action at J.T. Hall Coliseum on the MDCC campus. The visiting EMCC Lions stayed unbeaten in division play with a 43-41 victory, while the Lady Lions evened their division mark on the year with a 40-39 win over the Delta women in the opener.
In Monday’s nightcap, head coach Mark White’s EMCC Lions surrendered their 27-24 halftime lead by going scoreless for the first five minutes of the second stanza. After getting down by five points following intermission, the visitors regrouped to gain back the advantage. With a chance to essentially seal the road victory at the free-throw line down the stretch, the Lions couldn’t take advantage of multiple 1-and-1 opportunities. Delta had one last chance with a couple of ticks remaining at the end of regulation, but the Lions managed to secure a steal to nail down the narrow road triumph.
Moving to 4-0 within the division and 11-2 overall on the year with their eighth straight victory, the Lions were paced by sophomore guard Dione Milsap, who tied his season high with 14 points off the bench, including four 3-pointers. Transfer forward Colin Borchert was the only other EMCC player in double digits with 11 points.
The home-standing Trojans of Mississippi Delta dropped to 7-7 overall and 1-3 in division play with the loss.
After holding a slim 23-18 lead at halftime in Monday’s opener, head coach Sharon Thompson’s EMCC Lady Lions maintained their precarious advantage throughout the second stanza. With the visitors on top 40-38 and less than two seconds remaining in regulation, Delta’s Calmetta Greyer was fouled and went to the line after grabbing an offensive rebound. Following an initial miss at the charity stripe, she surprisingly opted not to intentionally miss the next attempt and drilled the second shot from the line to cut the deficit to a single digit. EMCC was then able to successfully inbound the basketball to run out the game clock.
As the Lady Lions improved to 5-9 overall and 2-2 within the division, they have now participated in 11 games decided by single digits this season, including four one-point decisions.
In the Delta contest, the EMCC women were led in scoring by transfer forward Meaghen Green with a season-high 12 points on 5-of-6 shooting. The sophomore backcourt tandem of Alvida Clemons and Chadisty Hickman followed with 11 and nine points, respectively, for the winners.
Greyer was Mississippi Delta’s only player scoring in double figures with 11 points. The Lady Trojans fell to 6-8 overall and 1-3 in division play with the setback.
The East Mississippi basketball teams continue MACJC North Division play on the road by traveling to Fulton to meet the Indians of Itawamba Community College on Thursday. Doubleheader hoops action is slated to tip off at 6 p.m. at ICC’s Davis Event Center.
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Last Updated ( Tuesday, 24 January 2012 )
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SCOOBA – D.J. Evans’ 3-pointer with 12.9 seconds left and Tradarrius McPhearson’s game-saving steal at the buzzer lifted the Lions of East Mississippi Community College to a dramatic 83-81 home triumph over 17th-ranked Northeast Mississippi in MACJC North Division basketball action Tuesday night at EMCC’s Keyes T. Currie Coliseum. The visiting Northeast Lady Tigers claimed the opener with a 66-57 victory over EMCC’s Lady Lions.
In the men’s nightcap, a dozen second-half lead changes and a pair of ties contributed to the championship game-like atmosphere pitting two title-contending ball clubs. Having battled back from an 11-point, first-half deficit, the visiting Tigers owned an 81-78 lead with 32.8 seconds remaining on the game clock. After Evans nailed a pair of free throws six seconds later to pull the Lions to within a point, Northeast subsequently broke EMCC’s press and appeared headed for a 2-on-1 break. However, guard Deonta Herman opted to drive to the basket and EMCC sophomore swing man Deon Bedford tipped the ball out to set up the climactic finish to a classic contest.
Once the Lions established control on the tap out, McPhearson found Evans on the perimeter for the eventual game-winner. Evans, a former Jackson All-Metro selection at Brandon High School, was coming off a season-high, 29-point effort at Meridian last Thursday. But, the sophomore playmaker was held scoreless in the opening half by Northeast and his game-winning trey marked only his second made field goal of the contest. Evans finished the game with nine second-half points along with four assists and four rebounds.
Following Evans’ triple with just under 13 ticks left in regulation, Northeast called its final timeout of the game. The Tigers put the ball into the hands of leading scorer Acie Vance, who was pick-pocketed by McPhearson as the game clock expired. Vance led all scorers with 23 points. Jermaine Hollimon followed with 17 points for the 10-2 Tigers, who fell to 1-2 in division play.
Improving to 10-2 overall and 3-0 within the division with their seventh straight victory, head coach Mark White’s EMCC Lions had seven different players score between nine and 15 points on the night. Sophomore forward Colin Borchert led the way with 15 points despite fouling out with 8:28 remaining in the contest. McPhearson, a sophomore by way of Raymond High School, followed with 14 points to go along with his team-high nine rebounds and five assists. Fellow sophomores Lakin Ford and Bedford added 11 and 10 points, respectively, for the reigning two-time NJCAA Region 23 champions.
In Tuesday’s opener, the home-standing EMCC Lady Lions couldn’t overcome a second-half scoring drought that saw them go nearly 10 minutes between made field goals. After trailing by a single digit (27-26) at the break, East Mississippi’s deficit grew to double digits (45-35) by the 8:07 mark of the second stanza.
Despite their scoring woes, the Lady Lions still trailed by only six points (56-50) with a minute left in the game. With EMCC forced to foul down the stretch, the Lady Tigers hit 10-of-12 charity tosses over the final minute of play to secure the road triumph.
Head coach Sharon Thompson’s EMCC Lady Lions fell to 4-9 overall and 1-2 in division action. The defending MACJC North Division champions were led again by sophomore guard Chadisty Hickman with 18 points, though she was limited to just 6-of-23 shooting from the field. The former Kemper County High School product also totaled six assists, four rebounds and two steals.
Raising their record to 6-7 overall and 2-1 within the division, the Lady Tigers of Northeast received a game-high 22 points from Amber Jackson. Anna Brooke Page and Shunquest Howell added 16 points apiece for the visitors.
The East Mississippi Community College basketball teams will be on the road next week, playing at Mississippi Delta on Monday (Jan. 23) before heading to Fulton to take on Itawamba on Thursday (Jan. 26).
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Last Updated ( Tuesday, 17 January 2012 )
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.jpg "Image") The EMCC basketball teams resume MACJC North Division competition by playing host to Northeast Mississippi Tuesday evening on the Scooba campus. A 5:30 p.m. women’s contest will be followed by a 7:30 p.m. men’s game at Keyes T. Currie Coliseum.
Coming off consecutive NJCAA Region 23 championships and back-to-back NJCAA National Tournament appearances, head coach Mark White’s EMCC men’s squad was ranked seventh in this year’s preseason NJCAA Top 20 poll. Following tough November road losses to Northwest Florida State College and Shelton State CC, currently ranked No. 1 and No. 18, respectively, in the national poll, the Lions have bounced back to win six straight contests.
Collectively 24-2 in divisional play dating back to the 2009-10 campaign, the two-time reigning MACJC North Division champions are 2-0 within the division this season with a 69-58 road victory over Holmes and a 95-67 home triumph over Northwest Mississippi during the first week of December. Most recently, the 9-2 EMCC Lions claimed double-digit road wins over rivals East Central (86-61) and Meridian (75-65) last week.
Averaging 85.9 points per game as a team, the EMCC men are defeating their opposition by an average margin of 24.2 points per contest with all nine victories coming by double figures. Defensively, the Lions are limiting their opponents to an average of only 61.7 points per outing.
With six different players averaging between 17 and seven points per game on the year, the East Mississippi men’s team is led in scoring by the sophomore tandem of D.J. Evans at the point position and Colin Borchert from his forward spot. Evans, from Brandon, leads the Lions in scoring (17.2 ppg), assists (4.4 apg) and steals (1.8 spg). The former Jackson All-Metro selection by The Clarion-Ledger newspaper is coming off a season-best, 29-point effort in last Thursday’s victory at Meridian CC.
Borchert, a 6-foot-8, 225-pound transfer from Yavapai College (Ariz.), is EMCC’s second-leading scorer (16.5 ppg) and No. 2 rebounder (7.8 rpg) on the year. In addition to shooting 52 percent from the field, including 18-of-45 (40%) from beyond the arc, and 77 percent from the charity stripe, the Arizona native leads the Lions with 17 blocked shots and ranks second on the club with 21 assists and 15 steals.
With two MACJC North Division regular-season titles over the past three years, head coach Sharon Thompson’s EMCC Lady Lions are currently 4-8 overall and 1-1 in division action on the season. Having most recently split a pair of games on the road last week by beating East Central (67-61) and falling to Meridian (59-54), the East Mississippi women opened division play back in December by dropping a 79-78, double-overtime decision at Holmes and then rebounding with a 71-56 home triumph over Northwest Mississippi.
Along with half of their season setbacks having come against teams presently ranked in the NJCAA Top 20 women’s poll – No. 2 Northwest Florida State, No. 5 Pensacola State and two losses to 13th-ranked Shelton State – six of the Lady Lions’ eight losses on the year have been by seven points or less.
The EMCC women are led by the sophomore backcourt duo of Chadisty Hickman and Alvida Clemons, who are averaging 13.9 and 11.7 points per game, respectively, through the first dozen contests. Hickman, a former Kemper County High School standout, also paces the Lady Lions in assists (3.8 apg) and steals (1.7 spg) while also averaging 5.3 rebounds an outing on the year.
Having thus far played the same MACJC North Division competition as the EMCC teams this season, the 5-7 Northeast Mississippi women have also beaten Northwest Mississippi (74-64) but fallen to Holmes (66-61). Ranked 17th nationally in last week’s NJCAA Top 20 poll, the 10-1 NEMCC Tigers managed a 102-95, triple-overtime road win over Northwest but followed with a 74-50 home setback to Holmes during the first week of December.
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Last Updated ( Monday, 16 January 2012 )
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SCOOBA – Fans will be able to relive East Mississippi Community College’s NJCAA National Championship 2011 football season for years to come with a two-disc DVD set being offered by the school.
The $20 DVD set, which includes postage and handling charges, is available through the EMCC Development Foundation Office by calling 662-476-5063. Visa and MasterCard orders can be taken by phone. Payment by check can be mailed to the EMCC Development Foundation; P.O. Box 158; Scooba, MS 39358.
Produced by EMCC media specialist Derek Cody, the double-disc DVD collection contains game highlights and post-game interviews from all 12 Lion victories during this past season. Along with additional special features, the DVD compilation also includes “EMCC: The Road to History”, a 30-minute program detailing the Lions’ memorable stadium-opening home victory over Mississippi Gulf Coast through the team’s history-making El Toro Bowl triumph over previously unbeaten Arizona Western College in the NJCAA Football Championship Game played in Yuma, Ariz.
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Last Updated ( Friday, 13 January 2012 )
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