| Two-time region hoops champion EMCC paired with Southeastern CC in NJCAA Tournament opener |
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.jpg "Image") Coach Mark White’s 25-3 EMCC Lions, two-time defending Region 23 champions, will tip off their second straight appearance in the NJCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Championship by taking on Southeastern Community College Tuesday (March 15) at the Hutchinson Sports Arena in Kansas. The 12th-ranked EMCC Lions and the Blackhawks of SCC rate as two of only three schools to successfully repeat as regional champions and return as team qualifiers for next week’s five-day tournament (March 15-19). Monroe College (N.Y.) is the only other Division I men’s basketball program among the nation’s junior college ranks set to make back-to-back national tournament appearances. The winner of Tuesday’s EMCC-SCC opening-round game will advance to take on the winner of the contest between Shelton State and Western Wyoming in Wednesday’s quarterfinals of the championship bracket at 8 p.m. CT. The losers of the two first-round games will meet each other in Thursday’s consolation bracket at 10 a.m. CT. Should East Mississippi and Shelton State meet on either side of the tournament bracket, the pairing would mark a third meeting between the two teams this season. The Tuscaloosa-based SSCC Buccaneers, champions of the Alabama Community College Conference, swept the Lions during the regular season, claiming a 75-67 win in Tuscaloosa just prior to Thanksgiving and earning a 72-69 road victory in Scooba on Jan. 5. Next week’s NJCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Championship will run through Saturday’s finals of both the championship and consolation brackets. For the second straight year, all 26 tournament games can be seen live on NJCAA TV (www.njcaa.org/tv) and PSB Live (www.psblive.com). In addition, tournament information, including ticket prices and game updates, will be available online throughout tournament week at www.njcaabbtrny.org. Having been selected as this season’s NJCAA Region 23 and MACJC Coach of the Year, Mark White’s 25-3 EMCC Lions are District 15 representatives in the national tournament for the second straight year after capturing last week’s NJCAA Region 23 Tournament title on the Mississippi College campus in Clinton. Bouncing back from their 61-52 setback to nationally-ranked Pearl River in the semifinals of the MACJC State Basketball Tournament in Wesson, the Lions bested East Central (81-74), Pearl River (89-80) and Southern-Shreveport (71-67) to claim their second consecutive regional title. With an overall composite record of 52-10 the past two seasons, the 2010-11 EMCC Lions also repeated as MACJC North Division regular-season champions. This year’s EMCC squad will officially go down in the records book with a perfect 12-0 divisional record upon gaining an extra league victory after the fact because of Mississippi Delta’s Feb. 12 forfeiture due to the use of an ineligible player. A year ago in Kansas during their first-ever appearance in the NJCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Championship, the 2009-10 Lions of East Mississippi claimed an 86-65 first-round victory over Brunswick (N.C.) before falling to Navarro (Texas) College, 72-58, and Northwest Florida State, 77-75. Headquartered in West Burlington, Iowa, Southeastern Community College enters the 2011 NJCAA Tournament sporting a 27-7 overall record after posting a 73-69 victory at Williston (N.D.) State College in Tuesday’s District 11 championship game. Noted as being the nation’s first men’s basketball junior college program to reach 1,500 all-time wins, the SCC Blackhawks have won three national championships since 2000, including back-to-back titles in 2003 and 2004. Southeastern CC is guided by veteran head coach Terry Carroll, who previously served as head coach at perennial power Indian Hills Community College in Iowa as well as the University of Denver. Other schools comprising the 16-team field of the 2011 NJCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Championships include: College of Southern Idaho; Redlands CC (Okla.); Missouri State University-West Plains; Midland College (Texas); Coffeyville CC (Kan.); Chattanooga State CC (Tenn.); Tallahassee CC (Fla.); Cape Fear CC; Waycross College (Ga.); Lamar State College (Texas); and Wabash Valley College (Ill.). |
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| Last Updated ( Wednesday, 09 March 2011 ) |
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