| No. 12 EMCC to face fellow repeat region champ Southeastern to tip off NJCAA hoops tourney |
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SCOOBA – With March Madness gearing up this week throughout all levels of intercollegiate basketball, the 12th-ranked Lions of East Mississippi Community College will face fellow repeat regional champion Southeastern Community College (Iowa) in Tuesday’s first round of the 2011 NJCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Championship. Tip-off for the EMCC-SCC contest is set for 4:30 p.m. CT at the Sports Arena in Hutchinson, Kan.
Pitting two of the three repeat regional champions in this week’s 16-team tournament field, 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. Back-to-back champions of Region 23 and the MACJC’s North Division, head coach Mark White’s 25-3 EMCC Lions are led by a pair of All-Region 23 performers in sophomores Deonte Alexander (Nashville, Tenn.) and Jonathan King (Panama City, Panama). An all-tournament pick at last year’s NJCAA Championship, Alexander averages a team-leading 16.6 points per game along with 3.3 rebounds, 2.1 assists and 1.8 steals. King is averaging a double-double on the season (13.5 ppg & 10.4 rpg) while shooting 55 percent from the field and 73 percent from the line. The Blackhawks of Southeastern Community College, out of West Burlington, Iowa, are repeat representatives of District 11 and bring a nine-game winning streak to Kansas. Guided by veteran head coach Terry Carroll, the 27-7 SCC Blackhawks are also paced by an all-region tandem in sophomores Paris Gulley (13.3 ppg) and Mansa Habeeb (12.9 ppg). Making the school’s 18th all-time appearance at the national tournament, Southeastern has claimed three national championships since 2000, including back-to-back NJCAA titles in 2003 and 2004. For the second straight year, fans will be able to watch all 26 games of this year’s NJCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Championship live on NJCAA TV (www.njcaa.org/tv) and PSB Live (www.psblive.com). The NJCAA will video stream the entire tournament through its broadcasting partner Panhandle Sports Broadcasting. Hutchinson’s own KWBW radio station (Eagle Communications) will provide play-by-play audio while PSB is set to handle the video production. Again this year, fans will also be able to follow the five-day tournament by visiting www.njcaabbtrny.org to access live stats, game results and additional information about the tournament. Running through Saturday (March 19) with finals in both the championship and consolation brackets, the 2011 NJCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Championship is the 64th overall all-time and marks the 63rd consecutive year the event has been held in Hutchinson. |
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| Last Updated ( Monday, 14 March 2011 ) |
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