| EMCC men top Meridian 82-65; Lady Lions best Shelton State 70-68 in OT |
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.jpg "Image") Former Southeast Lauderdale standouts Marino Thompson (left) and Martika Hull played key roles in EMCC’s basketball victories Thursday night at Currie Coliseum. Thompson totaled 18 points, nine rebounds, six blocks and three steals against Meridian Community College for the 5-1 Lions, while Hull led the 3-1 Lady Lions versus Shelton State with a career-high 32 points on 12-of-13 shooting from the field. Coach Mark White’s 5-1 Lions jumped out to a 19-2 lead eight minutes into the game, before Ma’Quirus Burton hit a 3-pointer at the 11:42 mark for Meridian’s first made field goal of the game. After owning a 37-25 halftime advantage, EMCC scored the first nine points of the second stanza to stretch the lead to 21 points (48-27) four minutes into the half. The margin ballooned to 36 points (67-31) by the midway mark of the second half, as the Lions breezed to the convincing 17-point final outcome. Preseason NJCAA All-American CoCo Ware of Starkville led all scorers with 25 points, while former Southeast Lauderdale standout Marino Thompson totaled 18 points, nine rebounds, six blocks and three steals for the winners. Meridian High School product Donovan Walker and former Kemper County star Colby Wren added 13 and 10 points, respectively. Though they struggled finding the range from beyond the arc with 1-of-20 three-point shooting, the Lions benefitted defensively from 21 steals and eight blocked shots. Offensively, EMCC was 35-of-84 (42%) from the field overall and 11-of-20 (55%) from the line. Rashad Robinson led Meridian with 19 points, followed by Brandon Pettaway with 16 points. In Thursday’s opening contest, head coach Sharon Thompson’s EMCC women started the second half on a 21-2 run after trailing by 23 points (36-13) late in the opening half of play. After going without a made field goal for the final nine minutes of the first half, the Lady Lions hit their first nine field-goal attempts following the break to take their first lead (39-38) of the game at the 15:16 mark on a fast-break basket by Shanteria Tate of Macon. Once EMCC pulled even with the Lady Bucs, the second half featured a dozen lead changes and four deadlocks before heading to the overtime session tied at 61-61. The 3-1 Lady Lions seemingly took control in overtime following Martika Hull’s three-point play and Tate’s three-point basket. However, Shelton State had a chance to win the game at the buzzer, but Saraethea Brown’s three-point attempt following a steal of an EMCC in-bounds pass was off target. Hull, also a product of Southeast Lauderdale, paced the winners with a career-high 32 points – 24 coming on perfect 9-of-9 shooting from the field in the second half. Hull was 12-of-13 from the field for the contest. Tate was EMCC’s only other double-digit scorer with 14 points – 11 coming in the second stanza. In shooting 44 percent (23-of-52 FGs) from the field for the game, the Lady Lions bounced back from a miserable first-half shooting effort (4-of-21 for 19%) to make 61 percent (19-of-31 FGs) of their second-half shot attempts, including a perfect 5-of-5 from three-point range. EMCC was also 19-of-34 (56%) from the charity stripe on the night. Allison Michael led Shelton State with 21 points, followed by Areial Woods and Nicole Caddell with a dozen points each. The East Mississippi basketball teams travel to Decatur to take on East Central Monday night at 6 and 8 p.m. EMCC swept East Central earlier this month in Scooba by scores of 58-56 in the women’s game and 63-56 in the men’s contest. |
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| Last Updated ( Friday, 13 November 2009 ) |
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