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Freshman guard Coco Ware of Starkville tallied 22 points Tuesday in helping lead the 4-3 Lions to their third consecutive win with an 87-70 road victory over Bevill State-Jasper.
With five of their first seven contests having come on the road, coach Mark White’s 4-3 Lions went over the .500 mark for the first time on the young season with the 17-point win over the Bears out of the Alabama Community College Conference.
Coming off recent victories over East Central and Copiah-Lincoln, EMCC started slowly against Bevill State before applying defensive pressure to muster some needed energy on the road. After managing to grab a 44-38 halftime advantage, the Lions’ relentless defensive pressure and offensive rebounding ultimately wore down the home-standing Bears. Utilizing a spread offense late in the contest against a fatigued Bevill State-Jasper club, EMCC’s final 17-point outcome matched the team’s largest margin of the game.
“I’m pleased with sitting at 4-3 after playing five of our first seven games on the road,” White noted. “We really shared the basketball tonight and made some big shots when we needed them. Hopefully we’ll be able to maintain our momentum when unbeaten Jones County comes to our place next Tuesday. That promises to be an entertaining game for our fans.”
With the Lions playing without starter Rob Elam due to a bruised lower back, Ware paced a quartet of double-digit EMCC scorers with 22 points against Bevill State. A former standout at Starkville High School, Ware is averaging 24.5 points over his last four outings. Larry Foster of York, Ala., followed with a season-high 17 points, while Starkville’s Woodie Howard and Memphis’ Cataurius Taylor added 12 and 11 points, respectively, to the winning effort. Darian Donald of Columbus and John Harris of Starkville contributed nine points apiece.
The East Mississippi basketball teams return to Scooba to begin a three-game homestand next Tuesday (Dec. 2) by playing host to Jones County. Tip-off times at EMCC’s Keyes T. Currie Coliseum are set for 5:30 p.m. for the women’s game followed by a 7:30 p.m. men’s contest.