East Mississippi gears up for ICC-hosted MACJC State Basketball Tournament as No. 4 tourney seeds
The East Mississippi Community College men's and women's basketball teams will both enter next week's MACJC State Tournament in Fulton as No. 4 seeds after being swept by Northwest Mississippi Community College at home Thursday evening. With similar outcomes in their regular-season finales, the Lady Lions and Lions fell 75-61 and 76-61, respectively, on "Sophomore Night" at EMCC’s Keyes T. Currie Coliseum.
SCOOBA – The East Mississippi Community College men's and women's basketball teams will both enter next week's MACJC State Tournament in Fulton as No. 4 seeds after being swept by Northwest Mississippi Community College at home Thursday evening. With similar outcomes in their regular-season finales, the Lady Lions and Lions fell 75-61 and 76-61, respectively, on "Sophomore Night" at EMCC's Keyes T. Currie Coliseum.
During Monday's opening-round men's tournament action at the Davis Event Center on the Itawamba Community College campus, the fourth-seeded EMCC Lions (17-6, 6-6) will take on MACJC South Division champion Pearl River at 3 p.m. The following day during women's first-round tournament play, the fourth-seeded EMCC Lady Lions (13-8, 7-5) will meet MACJC South winner and 23rd-ranked East Central at 3 p.m.
In closing out the regular season with a chance to have improved their state tournament seeding, the EMCC women got off to a slow start against the Lady Rangers and could never really recover. A 16-4 Northwest run to close out the opening quarter gave the visitors a 21-9 advantage following the opening 10 minutes of play. On the strength of six first-half 3-pointers, NWCC's margin grew to 19 points late in the half before a Coco Hobson 3-pointer made it 33-17 at the halftime break.
After scoring the first seven points of the second stanza and then rallying again midway through the quarter on consecutive 3-pointers by Camry Jones, the Lady Lions eventually closed the gap to six points (45-39) on a Quantesha Patterson steal and bucket at the third-quarter buzzer. Going mostly through Sara Lytle inside the paint during the final period, the Lady Rangers reclaimed their double-digit lead early in the final quarter and coasted to the 14-point road victory.
Paced by Lytle's game-high 28 points on 10-of-15 shooting from the field and 8-of-11 from the line, the Northwest women (16-4, 9-3) earned the MACJC North's No. 2 seed and will face third-seeded Copiah-Lincoln Tuesday at 1 p.m. prior to the EMCC-ECCC contest. Brianna Williams recorded a double-double with 16 points and 13 rebounds against the Lady Lions to aid the winning effort for the winners.
While dropping their sixth decision in seven games to conclude the regular season, head coach Sharon Thompson's EMCC Lady Lions enter postseason play at 13-8 overall. Columbus native Ki-Ki Patterson led four double-figure EMCC scorers against Northwest with 15 points in addition to grabbing nine rebounds. Freshman Quantesha Patterson had 13 points, followed by Jones and Tianna Germain with 12 and 10 points, respectively.
In the men's nightcap, the home-standing Lions also played catch-up most of the evening. A 17-4 Northwest spurt midway through the opening half created a double-digit advantage for the visitors. The Rangers maintained that margin by going into intermission sporting a 44-33 halftime lead.
Powered by the inside play of sophomore Juan Davis Jr., EMCC trimmed the deficit to four points (54-50) with nine minutes remaining after back-to-back buckets from the West Point product. Keyed by a pair of treys from Keelin Jackson, the Rangers proceeded to score a dozen unanswered points and regain some breathing room before ultimately cruising to the 15-point road triumph.
Improving to 16-7 overall and earning the MACJC North's No. 2 seed at 8-4 within the division, the Northwest Rangers were led by Tyrin Jones' 20 points and 11 rebounds. Jackson and Seth LeDay added 15 and 10 points, respectively. The NWCC men will battle MACJC South No. 3 seed Southwest Mississippi Monday at 1 p.m. prior to the EMCC-PRCC matchup.
Making his final home appearance, Davis responded with his first collegiate double-double to lead head coach Billy Begley's 17-6, 6-6 EMCC Lions. Along with coming up one point shy of tying his career high of 22 points (at Coahoma), Davis also pulled down a career-best 15 rebounds, including seven offensive boards. Fellow sophomores Daniel Simmons and Jahyde Gardiner followed with 14 and 11 points, respectively.
The upcoming four-day (Feb. 22-25) MACJC State Basketball Tournament will continue Wednesday with semifinal-round men's and women's action on the Itawamba Community College campus. Thursday's championship games will be played at 6 and 8 p.m. at ICC's Davis Event Center.
East Mississippi's tournament contests will be available online at www.EMCCAthletics.com/live. In addition, all tournament games will be streamed live on LetsGoICCTV.com.