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Coach Mark White’s preseason seventh-ranked EMCC Lions will tip off the 2011-12 basketball season Wednesday by playing host to Southern Sports Academy. Tip-off for EMCC’s season opener is set for 7 p.m. at Keyes T. Currie Coliseum on the Scooba campus.
Also rated 12th nationally this preseason in The Sporting News’ 2011-12 College Basketball Yearbook, EMCC men’s basketball coach Mark White’s Lions return six lettermen from last year’s 25-5 team that posted a perfect 12-0 league record on the way to claiming a second straight MACJC North Division regular-season championship and a repeat berth in the NJCAA Men’s Basketball National Tournament. Now 52-12 overall and 22-2 in division play over the past two years combined, East Mississippi has also won back-to-back NJCAA Region 23 Tournament titles while earning successive No. 12 season-ending national rankings in the NJCAA poll.
This preseason, the EMCC Lions went undefeated during a pair of jamborees held in the state of Georgia. Most recently (Oct. 22) at the Kenn Littlefield Hoops Jamboree in Atlanta, the East Mississippi men knocked off Atlanta Sports Academy, South Carolina-Sumter and Santa Fe College (Fla.). Prior to that (Oct. 9) at the Corry Black Juco Jamboree in Columbus, Ga., the Lions defeated Aiken Tech, Wallace State-Hanceville and Gordon College (Ga.).
Following Wednesday’s season opener, EMCC’s Lions will venture to Niceville, Fla., with the Lady Lions squad, to participate jointly in the two-day (Nov. 4-5) Quality Inn Classic, to be hosted by Northwest Florida State College. On Friday, EMCC women’s coach Sharon Thompson will lead her Lady Lions against preseason No. 2-ranked Pensacola State College in a 1:30 p.m. season-opening contest. The Lions will follow Friday with a 3:30 p.m. tip-off versus Alabama Southern Community College.
On Saturday, both East Mississippi basketball teams will take on the home-standing Raiders of Northwest Florida State College. Following the 5:30 p.m. women’s contest, the seventh-ranked Lions will meet the No. 11 NWF State men’s squad in a 7:30 p.m. battle of preseason-ranked teams. All games this weekend will be played at The Arena on NWF State’s campus in Niceville.
Winners of the MACJC’s North Division regular-season title twice in the past three seasons, the Lady Lions feature 13 newcomers on their 14-player roster. The lone player back from last year’s 15-10 squad is All-Region 23/All-State First Team guard Chadisty Hickman, of Kemper County High School.