EMCC Lions take over division lead with 63-61 win at Itawamba; Lady Lions fall 64-50 to division-leading ICC

FULTON – The visiting Lions of East Mississippi Community College battled back from a pair of 10-point, second-half deficits to nip Itawamba Community College 63-61 Thursday night at ICC's Davis Event Center.  In the women's game, division-leading ICC claimed a 64-50 victory over the Lady Lions.

With their comeback road victory, coupled with Northwest Mississippi's Thursday loss at Mississippi Delta, head coach Mark White's EMCC Lions moved one game ahead of the Rangers atop the MACJC's North Division standings with one week remaining in the regular season.  Looking for their fourth consecutive MACJC North Division regular-season title, the EMCC men, now 15-6 overall and 8-2 in division play, can clinch this year's division crown outright with a home win over visiting Northwest Mississippi during Monday's 'Sophomore Night' contest in Scooba.

After owning a slim 34-32 halftime lead, the visitors initially fell behind by double digits when the Indians came out of the second-half gates on a 15-3 run to take a 47-37 advantage four minutes into the second stanza.  The Lions managed to cut the deficit to a single point with nine unanswered points, but ICC answered with its own 9-0 spurt to bump the margin back up to 10 points (56-46) with 7:47 remaining in regulation.

That's when EMCC sophomore standout Jarekious Bradley re-entered the game after being saddled with early foul trouble.  That's also when the Memphis native showed why he ranks as one of the NJCAA's premier players this season.  Bradley, a transfer from Midland College in Texas, nailed a pair of clutch 3-pointers, picked off four steals, handed out a pair of assists and collected two rebounds over the final six minutes of the game to rally the Lions to their fourth consecutive win over the past two weeks and their 11^th straight series victory over Itawamba dating back to the 2008-09 season.

After Deontaye Ewing put the home team back on top 58-56 with a basket, Bradley bombed in his fifth 3-pointer of the night to give the Lions a lead they would not relinquish.  He then collected his fourth steal of the comeback stretch and found Mack Foster for an easy basket to put EMCC up 61-58 with less than four minutes left in the game.

The Indians managed to knot the score at 61-61 with three free throws, but costly turnovers down the stretch took their toll in the end.  EMCC freshman point guard Nick Giles got to the line with 1:15 left and hit both crucial charity tosses.  The two teams then traded empty possessions before multiple timeouts were called with 13.3 seconds remaining.  Having to go the length of the court, ICC's Javerick Burrell drove the left baseline, but the freshman guard was met at the rim by a pair of Lion defenders as the final buzzer sounded.

Bradley, the NJCAA's fourth-leading scorer entering the game and coming off a pair of 30-point outings, finished the contest with a game-high 18 points on 7-of-11 shooting, including 5-of-7 from beyond the three-point arc.  Fellow sophomore Micah Walker followed with 11 points for the winners.

Falling to 10-12 overall and 3-8 in division play with another tough setback, the Indians were led by Jacques Johnson and Tory Rice with 10 points apiece. 

In the women's contest, head coach Sharon Thompson's Lady Lions couldn't sustain the offensive effort that gave the visitors a 32-29 halftime lead.  Through the opening 20 minutes of play, EMCC was powered by freshman post player Savannah Kimmons, who nearly achieved a double-double with 14 points and nine rebounds by halftime.

The contest stayed tight through the opening 10 minutes of the second half before ICC scored eight unanswered points midway through the half to move ahead 48-40.  Back-to-back 3-pointers by Ashley Wiley and Ty-Nita Baker ignited that game-deciding run for the Lady Indians.

From there, the Lady Lions would only get as close as six points over the final eight minutes, as the ICC women pretty much maintained their double-digit advantage the rest of the way.  Led by Latoya Collins and Baker with 12 and 11 points, respectively, the Lady Indians improved their division-leading mark to 9-2 and 15-7 overall with the 14-point triumph.   

With the Lady Indians opting to go primarily to their zone defense in the second half, Kimmons was virtually neutralized in the post following the intermission with only five points and one rebound coming after halftime.  The former Horn Lake High School product did register her second double-double of the season by finishing with a season-high 19 points and 10 boards.  Fellow freshman Takera Mitchell, of Wayne County, added 10 points for EMCC, though she was limited to just four free throws in the second half.

Now tied for fourth place in the women's MACJC North Division standings at 4-6 with Holmes and Mississippi Delta, the Lady Lions fell to 6-15 overall on the year.

Heading into the final week of the regular season, the East Mississippi basketball teams will play host to Northwest Mississippi Community College on Monday during 'Sophomore Night' festivities.  A 5:30 p.m. women's game will be followed by a 7:30 p.m. men's contest at EMCC's Keyes T. Currie Coliseum on the Scooba campus.  Eyeing the upcoming MACJC State Tournament, to be held Feb. 25-28 at the site of the MACJC South Division men's regular-season champion, the EMCC squads will venture to Clarksdale to meet Coahoma Community College in the regular-season finale on Thursday.