EMCC Lions remain unbeaten in division play with 79-59 home win over Itawamba; Lady Lions fall 71-61 to ICC women

SCOOBA – The Lions of East Mississippi Community College used a 14-0 run to close out the first half en route to cruising to a 79-59 home win over rival Itawamba Community College Tuesday night in MACJC North Division basketball action at EMCC's Keyes T. Currie Coliseum.  In the women's contest, the visiting ICC Lady Indians remained unbeaten in division play by claiming a 71-61 victory over EMCC's Lady Lions.

 In a rematch of last year's MACJC state title men's game, the two teams battled to a near stalemate for the majority of the opening half of play.  However, the home-standing Lions amped up their defensive intensity another notch and scored 14 unanswered points over the final three minutes of the half to increase a one-point lead to a 43-28 margin by halftime.

With the exception of a few times following intermission, EMCC's cushion remained in double digits throughout the final 20 minutes of play.  The 20-point final outcome improved head coach Mark White's career record against Itawamba to 13-4 and lifted the Lions' home division mark since 2009-10 to 30-1.

Scoring 15 of his season-high 21 points in the second half, freshman forward Jahyde Gardiner led a quartet of EMCC double-digit scorers.  Fellow freshman La'Datren Deas, of Pascagoula, followed with 18 points to go along with seven assists and three steals for the winners, who improved to 11-3 overall and 4-0 within the division.  Gervelle Kidd added 13 points, while reigning MACJC Men's Basketball Player of the Week Antonio Finley, of Meridian, added 11.

Falling to 5-11 overall and 1-4 in division play, the ICC Indians were led by Austin Timms 15 points, while Tyrone Wooten and Kevis Fleming added 11 points apiece.

To open the night's action on the Scooba campus, EMCC's Lady Lions got out of the gates quickly with an 11-point lead (18-7) seven minutes into the contest.  With the home team still up by nine points (23-14) following a Ki-Ki Patterson 3-pointer, Kaelin Kneeland hit three straight jumpers to ignite a 13-4 ICC run down the stretch of the opening half.

The Lady Indians increased their 33-29 halftime lead to 38-29 three minutes into the second stanza on 5-of-6 free throw shooting by Jayla Chills.  ICC's advantage would grow to 17 points (51-34) on a corner trey by Jeronia Allen at the 8:45 mark.

However, head coach Sharon Thompson's reigning MACJC North Division champions battled tough throughout the second half in cutting the deficit to five points a couple of times over the final four minutes.  But, it was Chills, the current MACJC Women's Basketball Player of the Week, who scored 10 of her career high-tying 33 points over the final two minutes, that helped secure ICC's 10-point road victory.

Now 7-7 overall on the year and falling for the first time in four division contests, EMCC's Lady Lions were led by Patterson, a former Columbus High School All-American, and sophomore transfer Ashley Johnson with 17 and 14 points, respectively.

Improving to 14-2 overall with a division-leading 5-0 mark, the Itawamba women also received double-figure scoring from Kneeland and Allen with 12 and 11 points, respectively.          

The East Mississippi basketball teams return to action Thursday night when they travel to Goodman to take on the Bulldogs of Holmes Community College.  A 6 p.m. women's game will be followed by an 8 p.m. men's contest featuring two unbeaten teams atop the MACJC North Division standings.  Both games are slated to be video-streamed live on www.EMCCAthletics.com/live with EMCC Director of Digital Media Matt Pellegrin describing the play-by-play action.