| East Mississippi basketball teams fall in tournament action to host Northwest Florida State |
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NICEVILLE, Fla. – Stepping out of state to take on national tournament-caliber competition, the East Mississippi Community College basketball teams both dropped road decisions to host Northwest Florida State College Saturday night in the Quality Inn Classic. Following the Lady Lions’ 57-53 setback to the host team, the seventh-ranked EMCC Lions dropped an 88-67 decision to No. 11 NWF State in the tournament nightcap held at The Arena.
In the women’s contest, head coach Sharon Thompson’s EMCC Lady Lions trailed the entire game but rallied late to cut it to a one-possession contest. Down 27-18 at the halftime break and trailing by double digits (54-44) with 2:15 remaining in the game, EMCC took advantage of an NWF State technical foul and converted four straight free throws to cut the deficit to 55-53 with six seconds left. However with EMCC forced to foul, JoAnna Harden stepped to the line with two ticks remaining and sank a pair of charity tosses to seal the victory for the home-standing Lady Raiders. Freshman standout Jeraldine Campbell, of Noxubee County, posted her second straight 20-point outing for the Lady Lions, hitting for 28 points against NWF State to account for more than half of her team’s points. Former Northwest Florida State transfer guard Alvida Clemons added 10 points for the EMCC women. In addition to hitting 10-of-11 free throws and 8-of-21 from the field, Campbell also pulled down a team-high seven rebounds. With both tournament losses this past weekend in Florida coming against perennial NJCAA Tournament participants by a combined total of just five points, the 0-2 EMCC Lady Lions return to action on Nov. 14 against Shelton State CC in Tuscaloosa. In Saturday’s tournament nightcap, head coach Mark White’s Lions got down early but managed to knot the score at 26-all with 7:23 remaining in the opening half. However, the home-standing Raiders outscored EMCC, 16-6, the rest of the half to maintain a 42-32 halftime advantage. The visiting Lions continued to fight an uphill battle throughout the second stanza. After EMCC cut the deficit to seven points (56-49) by the 11:42 mark, NWF State responded with nine unanswered points to essentially put away the contest. Sophomore point guard D.J. Evans, of Brandon, paced East Mississippi with 17 points, four assists and four rebounds. Transfer forward Colin Borchert was EMCC’s other double-digit scorer with 10 points, though the Arizona native struggled with foul trouble and was held to 3-of-11 shooting from the field. As a team, the Lions were slowed by 22 turnovers and poor free-throw shooting. Along with attempting 10 fewer charity tosses than NWF State for the game, EMCC was only able to make 15-of-31 attempts (48%) from the line. The 2-1 EMCC Lions return home to play host to rival Meridian Community College on Thursday (Nov. 10). Tip-off at Keyes T. Currie Coliseum on the Scooba campus is set for 7 p.m. |
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| Last Updated ( Sunday, 06 November 2011 ) |
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