| Lions claim 10th straight win with 81-71 victory over Coahoma; Lady Lions fall 61-51 to Coahoma |
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SCOOBA – Sophomores D.J. Evans and Colin Borchert combined for 49 points to help lead the Lions of East Mississippi Community College to their 10th consecutive win with Monday’s 81-71 home triumph over Coahoma CC at EMCC’s Keyes T. Currie Coliseum. In the opener, the visiting Lady Tigers of Coahoma claimed a 61-51 road win over the EMCC Lady Lions.
In the nightcap, head coach Mark White’s EMCC Lions battled back from an 11-point, first-half deficit with a 9-1 run to close the opening half trailing by just three points (36-33). A 3-pointer by Evans at the 16:49 mark of the second stanza gave the Lions their first lead (43-41) since midway through the opening half. After the Tigers reclaimed a short-lived lead, 48-47 at the 13:21 mark, on a three-point play by Rashard Harris, EMCC’s tandem of Evans and Borchert began to take over the contest for the Lions. Combining for 16-of-17 free-throw shooting between them after intermission, Evans tallied 17 of his game-high 26 points in the second half while Borchert had 14 of his 23 points following the break. Coahoma kept the contest interesting until the final buzzer, trailing by just five points (75-70) with two minutes remaining. Four straight Evans free throws down the stretch gave the EMCC men their 12th double-digit victory in 13 wins on the season. Borchert, from Phoenix, Ariz., added a game-high 14 rebounds and three blocked shots to his 5-of-11 field-goal shooting and 13-of-15 accuracy from the charity stripe. Evans, by way of Brandon High School, also collected five assists, four rebounds and two steals on the night. Fellow sophomore Curtis Hall, of West Point, chipped in with 10 points on 4-of-5 field goals, six boards and three steals, as the Lions improved to 13-2 overall and closed out the first half of MACJC North Division regular-season play unbeaten at 6-0. Falling to 7-10 overall and 0-6 in division play, the Coahoma Tigers were led by Harris’ 21 points. In Monday’s opener, the EMCC Lady Lions trailed the entire contest. After getting down 6-0 early, the home team was doubled (32-16) by the halftime break. To their credit, head coach Sharon Thompson’s EMCC women nearly fought all the way back to cut the deficit to just two points (44-42) by the 8:38 mark of the second half after a pair of Alvida Clemons free throws. Coahoma answered with a spinning move in the lane by ShyVuna Johnson and a three-point play by Sharhonda Vaughn to push the Lady Tigers’ margin back up to seven points (49-42) with 7:27 left in the game. The Lady Lions could not get any closer than five points the rest of the way to fall to 5-11 overall and 2-4 within the division. Clemons paced EMCC with 16 points, including a pair of second-half 3-pointers. Fellow sophomore guard Chadisty Hickman followed with 10 points, though the former Kemper County High School product struggled with 4-of-18 shooting from the field, including but 1-of-9 from beyond the arc. Claiming their first division win in six attempts on the year and evening their overall mark to 8-8, the Coahoma Lady Tigers received 16 points apiece from Vaughn and Ciara Morgan. The East Mississippi basketball teams stay at home to play host to Holmes Community College Thursday (Feb. 2) on the Scooba campus. A 5:30 p.m. women’s game will be followed by a 7:30 p.m. men’s encounter at EMCC’s Currie Coliseum. |
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| Last Updated ( Monday, 30 January 2012 ) |
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