| East Mississippi drops home hoops doubleheader to Shelton State |
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SCOOBA – The East Mississippi basketball teams tipped off the new calendar year by dropping a home basketball doubleheader to Shelton State Wednesday night at EMCC’s Keyes T. Currie Coliseum. The Lady Lions fell, 72-65, in the opener, while the 19th-ranked EMCC Lions failed to avenge their only prior loss of the year by dropping a 72-69 decision to the visiting Buccaneers in the nightcap.
In the women’s contest, EMCC freshman guards Chadisty Hickman (24 points) and Kiara Quinones-Noa (22) combined for 46 of the Lady Lions’ 65 points, including 17 points apiece in the second half. However, their collective output couldn’t offset 12 made 3-pointers by the visiting Lady Bucs of Shelton State. Now 6-5 on the season, head coach Sharon Thompson’s East Mississippi women battled back from a 15-point (42-27) halftime deficit by putting together a pair of 9-0 runs early in the second stanza. Hickman, a former Kemper County High School standout, tallied all nine of EMCC’s points during the second streak to cut the deficit to five points (50-45) with 11:10 remaining in the contest. The home team managed to cut the margin to five points again late in the contest, but Shelton State sank 4-of-4 free throws over the final 1:15 to seal the road victory and improve to 14-3 on the year. Christina Hayes led four double-figure SSCC scorers with 19 points, including five baskets from behind the three-point arc. The nightcap featured a rematch between the EMCC men and Shelton State, which previously resulted in a 75-67 home triumph for the Buccaneers during the final day of their tournament back on Nov. 22. In surrendering a 42-36 halftime lead in the year’s first meeting, that eight-point loss by EMCC had marked the Lions’ lone setback in 11 decisions heading into Wednesday’s rematch. Featuring 11 ties in the contest, the year’s second meeting came down to the final two minutes. After Lion freshman Millaun Brown knotted the score at 68-68 with 2:06 left, Shelton State’s Kwame Beard drained a clutch 3-pointer to give the visitors a three-point lead with 1:26 remaining. The two teams then traded empty possessions, as the Lions turned the ball over on an inbounds play and SSCC’s Terrance Coleman misfired on a trey attempt with the shot clock running down. With 12.3 seconds left and the home team trailing by three points, EMCC’s Donovan Walker was fouled while driving to the basket. After hitting his first free throw, the sophomore collected his errant second attempt from the line. However, Walker was stripped off the ball while looking for an open teammate. With a chance to ice the game from the charity stripe and 8.1 ticks left on the game clock, Shelton State’s Lazabian Jackson’s missed second free throw attempt was snared by EMCC’s Jonathan King for his 20th board of the night. The Lions’ final chance at possibly sending the game into overtime ended as freshman D.J. Evans’ three-point try fell short of the basket at the buzzer. Sophomore guard Deonte Alexander paced four double-digit EMCC scorers with a game-high 17 points. Evans followed with 13 points, while King registered his fourth double-double of the campaign with a dozen points to go along with his career-high 20 rebounds. Walker also added 12 points for head coach Mark White’s 10-2 Lions. Improving to 11-4 on the season, Shelton State was led by Jackson and Denzel McDaniel with 15 and 12 points, respectively. The East Mississippi basketball teams return to MACJC North Division play by traveling to Booneville to meet Northeast Mississippi in a Monday doubleheader beginning at 5 p.m. EMCC will then play host to rival Meridian CC in a Thursday twinbill (Jan. 13) set to tip off at 5:30 p.m. at Currie Coliseum on the Scooba campus. |
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| Last Updated ( Thursday, 06 January 2011 ) |
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