EMCC men complete season sweep of East Central with 88-73 road win; Lady Lions fall 73-62 at ECCC

DECATUR – In their first hoops action of the new calendar year, the Lions of East Mississippi Community College showed little signs of rust coming off the recent holiday break by posting a convincing 88-73 road triumph over rival East Central Community College Tuesday night at ECCC's Brackeen-Wood Gymnasium.  In the women's contest, the home-standing Lady Warriors prevailed over EMCC by a 73-62 final tally.

Coupled with November's 73-64 home win over the Warriors, the EMCC men completed their sixth season series sweep over East Central in the last seven years.  On the women's side, the Lady Warriors earned a season series split with EMCC by avenging their 84-75 loss to the Lady Lions on the Scooba campus earlier this season.

East Mississippi's rematch rivalry week continues with Thursday's home doubleheader against Meridian Community College.  A 5:30 p.m. women's game will precede the 7:30 p.m. men's contest at EMCC's Keyes T. Currie Coliseum.  Back in November, EMCC swept the Eagles in Meridian by scores of 68-52 in the women's game and 67-53 during the men's nightcap.

Tuesday in Decatur, head coach Billy Begley's EMCC Lions jumped out to a fast 8-0 start and were up by double figures (15-3) five minutes into the contest.  Keyed by double-digit, first-half scoring efforts from Jahyde Gardiner (13 pts) and Nat Dixon (11), EMCC's advantage steadily grew to as many as 22 points just before the halftime break.

The visitors maintained their double-figure margin throughout the second half, though East Central trimmed the deficit to 10 points on a couple of occasions during the latter stages of the contest.  After the Warriors pulled to within 61-51 with just under eight minutes remaining, EMCC answered with nine straight points to re-establish control.       

Down the stretch, East Central again whittled the deficit to 10 points (76-66) with under four minutes left.  But again, the Lions had the answer aided by a pair of timely Daniel Simmons steals and resulting baskets to go along with game-clinching free throws during the final minutes to account for the 15-point final margin and improve to 9-1 on the year.

Gardiner, a UT Martin signee, paced a quintet of twin-digit scorers for the Lions with a game-high 26 points.  Dixon, a Boston College transfer from the Florida prep ranks, followed with 17.  Simmons, West Point's Juan Davis Jr. and Anterio McKines of Quitman added 11 points apiece to EMCC's winning effort.

Falling to 5-5 on the season, the Warriors had four players in double figures.  Ravion Henry and Derrick Dandridge tallied 15 points each, while Prince McDaniel and Jaylon Bardley followed with 11 points apiece.

In the women's game, the Lady Warriors outscored the visitors, 20-12, in the second quarter to build on a narrow 20-16 first-quarter lead and pull ahead to a 40-28 halftime advantage.  The Lady Lions were slowed by 18 turnovers during the opening 20 minutes of action.

Midway through the third quarter, Camry Jones' three-point basket with the shot-clock running down ignited a 9-0 EMCC run that cut the margin to five points (50-45) late in the period.  But, that's as close as the Lady Lions would get, as East Central would push its lead back up to 17 points (71-54) down the stretch.  A subsequent 8-0 EMCC run during the final two minutes of the game helped account for the final 11-point margin.

Dropping to 6-2 for the year, head coach Sharon Thompson's Lady Lions received a team-high 22 points from former Columbus High School standout Ki-Ki Patterson.  Jones, out of Nettleton High School, registered her first collegiate double-double with 13 points and a career-high 11 rebounds.  Kennesaw State transfer Tianna Germain added 11 points for EMCC.

Improving to 8-2 on the year, the East Central women were sparked by the 1-2 scoring punch of Alexia McDonald and Miracle Rushing with 23 and 21 points, respectively, for the winners.