EMCC - Athletics: Sports, News, Players, and Coaches. Go Lions! - East Mississippi picks up key divisional doubleheader hoops sweep over Northeast

BOONEVILLE – The East Mississippi Community College basketball teams claimed a clutch divisional road sweep over Northeast Mississippi Saturday afternoon at Bonner Arnold Coliseum on the NEMCC campus. In a makeup twinbill postponed from earlier this month due to wintry weather, the 21^st-ranked EMCC Lions followed the Lady Lions’ 61-52 victory over the Northeast women with a key 91-81 triumph over the home-standing Tigers.

Reigning champions of the MACJC North Division and NJCAA Region 23, head coach Mark White’s EMCC Lions have now taken early control of this year’s divisional race by remaining unbeaten in five league games and improving to 14-2 overall with the 10-point road win. The Northeast men’s team entered the contest right behind EMCC in second place within the division standings and had won five straight games.

Following an opening half that featured 17 lead changes and two ties, the EMCC men raced out of the second-half gates on a 10-2 run to take an 11-point lead (50-39) three minutes into the period. After the Tigers pulled to within a basket midway through the half, the visitors went on a 13-4 spurt to stretch the margin back up to double digits.

The Lions received 28 points apiece from the sophomore tandem of Deonte Alexander and Jonathan King. A Nashville product, Alexander connected on six 3-pointers, while King, a native of Panama, recorded his seventh double-double of the campaign. Fellow sophomore Donovan Walker of Meridian and freshman playmaker D.J. Evans of Brandon added 15 and 13 points, respectively, for the winners.

Falling to 8-9 overall and 4-2 in division play, Northeast Mississippi was led by Jermaine Hollimon and Tyler Pritchard with 29 and 20 points, respectively. NEMCC freshman Robert Wade, the Tigers’ leading scorer on the season, was held to three points before fouling out with seven minutes left in the game.

In Saturday’s opener in Booneville, head coach Sharon Thompson’s EMCC women ran off 13 unanswered points early in the contest and added an 8-0 run midway through the opening half to claim a 32-14 halftime advantage. The Lady Lions’ double-digit cushion stayed in intact until Northeast trimmed the deficit to seven points (55-48) by the 2:03 mark.

However, EMCC sophomore Kierra Jones capped her first double-double effort of the year with a bucket and subsequent three-point play to push the visitors’ lead back up to twin digits. The Starkville product and former Meridian CC transfer finished with a game-high 19 points and career-most 12 rebounds.

Getting back over the .500 mark at 8-7 overall and 3-2 within the division with the nine-point victory, the Lady Lions also received 14 points from freshman guard Kiara Quinones-Noa along with nine points and eight boards by Columbus product Jamie Gunter.

Led by Anna Brooke Page’s team-high 15 points, the Lady Tigers of Northeast fell to 8-8 overall and 3-3 in league play.

The East Mississippi basketball teams continue their week-long stretch of divisional road dates by taking on Coahoma Monday night in Clarksdale and then onto Goodman for a Thursday hoops doubleheader against Holmes.