EMCC men's hoops team to close out 2014 in Florida at two-day tournament hosted by Tallahassee CC
For the second straight year, the East Mississippi Community College men's basketball team will close out the calendar year in Florida by competing in the two-day Tallahassee Democrat Holiday Classic hosted by Tallahassee Community College.
SCOOBA – For the second straight year, the East Mississippi Community College men's basketball team will close out the calendar year in Florida by competing in the two-day Tallahassee Democrat Holiday Classic hosted by Tallahassee Community College.
In Tuesday's opening-day tournament action, head coach Mark White's 6-1 EMCC Lions will take on Hillsborough Community College, out of Tampa, Fla., at 2 p.m. CT. On Wednesday, East Mississippi will then meet Garrett College, from McHenry, Md., in a 1 p.m. CT contest. The host TCC Eagles will entertain Garrett and Hillsborough on Tuesday (7:30 p.m.) and Wednesday (6:30 p.m.), respectively, at the Bill Hebrock Eagledome.
The Hillsborough CC Hawks enter this week's action with a .500 mark at 8-8 overall, while the Garrett College Lakers sport a perfect 13-0 record and were ranked 15th nationally in the NJCAA Division II men's basketball poll earlier this month. The home-standing Tallahassee CC Eagles are 12-2 overall and rated 19th nationally in the most recent NJCAA Division I rankings.
Both EMCC men's basketball games at this week's Tallahassee CC-hosted hoops tournament are slated to be video-streamed live at www.EMCCAthletics.com/live with EMCC's Director of Digital Media Matt Pellegrin set to call the play-by-play action.
Ranked 24th nationally in the NJCAA Division I men's basketball preseason poll, the EMCC Lions own a four-game winning streak after dropping a 99-88 road decision to rival East Central Community College back on Nov. 13. Following the Thanksgiving holiday break, East Mississippi has since knocked off Alabama Southern CC (84-61), division foe Northeast Mississippi CC (68-58), Delgado CC (71-68) and William Carey University's junior varsity team (77-66) during the month of December.
This year's new-look EMCC men's squad, with 12 freshmen and only four sophomores, are led in scoring by sophomore guard Antonio Finley with an average of 18.6 points per game. The former Meridian High School standout owns four 20-point efforts in seven outings this season and is connecting on 38 percent (31-of-81) of his three-point attempts for the year. Freshman backcourt performer Daniel Simmons, of Biggersville, is also averaging in double figures with 10.1 points a contest.
The Lions' inside attack is powered by freshman forward Jahyde Gardiner, who is averaging a double-double on the season and shooting 53 percent from the field. The Philadelphia, Pa., native is averaging 12.9 points and a team-leading 10.1 rebounds per game with four double-double outings through the season's first seven games.
A year ago, the EMCC Lions split a pair of games at the Tallahassee CC-hosted hoops tournament, knocking off the host TCC Eagles, 79-70, before falling to Eastern Florida State College, 79-72.