EMCC Lions look to begin another streak at this week's NJCAA Region 23 Basketball Tournament in Clinton
East Mississippi Community College's bid to begin another successful regional run on the hardwood begins Wednesday in Clinton, as the Lions take on Southern University at Shreveport in opening-round action of the 2015 NJCAA Region 23 Basketball Tournament. Tip-off for the EMCC-SUSLA contest is set for 8 p.m. Wednesday and will conclude the men's quarterfinals at A.E. Wood Coliseum on the Mississippi College campus.
SCOOBA – East Mississippi Community College's bid to begin another successful regional run on the hardwood begins Wednesday in Clinton, as the Lions take on Southern University at Shreveport in opening-round action of the 2015 NJCAA Region 23 Basketball Tournament. Tip-off for the EMCC-SUSLA contest is set for 8 p.m. Wednesday and will conclude the men's quarterfinals at A.E. Wood Coliseum on the Mississippi College campus.
Guided by eighth-year head coach Mark White, this year's EMCC men's squad enters regional play seeded fourth with a 17-7 overall record after dropping a 78-74 quarterfinal-round decision to Mississippi Gulf Coast at last week's MACJC State Basketball Tournament held at Copiah-Lincoln Community College in Wesson. The Lions finished the regular season in second place behind the Holmes Bulldogs in the MACJC North Division standings with a 9-3 league mark.
Under White's leadership between the 2009-10 and 2012-13 hoops campaigns, the EMCC Lions previously claimed four consecutive NJCAA Region 23 men's basketball championships while making four straight NJCAA national tournament appearances in Hutchinson, Kan. East Mississippi's impressive 13-game winning streak in regional play came to an end a season ago when eventual NJCAA Division I National Champion Jones County Junior College claimed a 73-72 overtime triumph over the Lions during last year's regional semifinals.
Often referred to as the Port City Jaguars, fifth-seeded Southern-Shreveport enters regional play with a 14-8 overall record, including a current four-game winning streak. Wednesday's contest will mark the fourth regional meeting in Clinton between the Jaguars and Lions in the last seven years. White's previous EMCC squads knocked off SUSLA during the 2011 and 2012 NJCAA Region 23 championship games by respective scores of 71-67 and 63-49. The Lions also defeated the Jags, 83-75, in the quarterfinals of the 2009 regional tournament.
Preceding EMCC's nightcap matchup against Southern-Shreveport on Wednesday, men's quarterfinal-round action is scheduled to begin at noon with No. 3 seed and MACJC North Champion Holmes taking on sixth-seeded Northeast Mississippi. No. 2 seed Jones County is set to meet seventh-seeded East Central at 2 p.m. Wednesday's night session will tip off at 6 p.m. with MACJC State Champion and top-seeded Pearl River pitted against No. 8 seed Baton Rouge CC.
Women's competition takes over Thursday at MC's A.E. Wood Coliseum with their quarterfinal-round regional action. The early session will have MACJC North Champion Itawamba versus East Central at noon, followed by MACJC State Champion Copiah-Lincoln against Holmes at 2 p.m. Thursday's evening women's session will pair MACJC State Runner-up Meridian with Northwest Mississippi at 6 p.m., ahead of the 8 p.m. nightcap contest between Jones County and Baton Rouge.
Friday's hoops activity on the Mississippi College campus will consist of semifinal-round tournament action for the men at noon and 2 p.m., followed by the women's semis at 6 and 8 p.m. Saturday's scheduled 6 p.m. women's regional championship contest will precede an 8 p.m. men's title tilt.