NJCAA tourney-bound EMCC to meet division foe Northeast in Region 23 hoops title game
With a commanding 95-60 semifinal-round victory over Southern-Shreveport late Friday night, the East Mississippi Community College Lions have advanced to Saturday night's NJCAA Region 23 Basketball Tournament championship game against MACJC North Division foe Northeast Mississippi Community College. With both teams having already secured bids to the upcoming NJCAA Tournament, Saturday's tip-off time is set for 8 p.m. at A.E. Wood Coliseum on the Mississippi College campus.
CLINTON – With a commanding 95-60 semifinal-round victory over Southern-Shreveport late Friday night, the East Mississippi Community College Lions have advanced to Saturday night's NJCAA Region 23 Basketball Tournament championship game against MACJC North Division foe Northeast Mississippi Community College. With both teams having already secured bids to the upcoming NJCAA Tournament, Saturday's tip-off time is set for 8 p.m. at A.E. Wood Coliseum on the Mississippi College campus.
The winner of Saturday's championship contest between EMCC and NEMCC will represent Region 23 as the District XV automatic qualifier to the NJCAA Division I Men's Basketball Championship, set for March 14-19 in Hutchinson, Kansas. Saturday's runner-up in the regional title game will also earn a berth to the national tournament as the NJCAA's District XV/Region 23 zone qualifier. Saturday's regional men's title game will be available online at www.EMCCAthletics.com/live.
Having led from the opening tip-off to the final buzzer in Friday's semifinal-round contest against Southern-Shreveport, first-year head coach Billy Begley's EMCC Lions improved to 20-7 overall on the year in reaching the 20-win mark for the sixth time in the last seven years. With a 17-3 composite record in regional play dating back to the 2008-09 season, East Mississippi previously made four straight NJCAA Tournament appearances by virtue of four consecutive Region 23 basketball championships from 2010-2013 under the guidance of former head coach Mark White, currently at Tallahassee Community College.
In jumping out to a quick 8-0 lead Friday night on 3-pointers by Juan Davis Jr. and Daniel Simmons along with two free throws from Nat Dixon, EMCC owned a comfortable 47-29 halftime advantage. The margin reached 21 points (53-32) two minutes into the second stanza on another Davis 3-pointer. Staying in control throughout the remainder of the game, the Lions went up by 30 points (85-55) with five minutes left on the way to the decisive 35-point triumph.
As a team, East Mississippi shot 55 percent (27-49 FGs) from the field and converted on 34-of-47 free throws for 72 percent from the charity stripe. After leading the team with 26 points in EMCC's 89-83 victory over Mississippi Gulf Coast during Thursday's quarterfinals, sophomore guard Daniel Simmons again paced the Lions in the semis with a game-high 22 points on 8-of-12 shooting from the field and 4-of-8 accuracy from the beyond the three-point arc.
Davis and Dixon followed with 19 and 12 points, respectively, while fellow sophomore Jahyde Gardiner, though limited to just three shot attempts in the contest, enjoyed an excellent all-around game by grabbing a team-high 10 rebounds to go along with his eight points, four assists and two blocks. All 12 EMCC players scored in the contest.
Concluding their season with a 19-9 overall mark, the Jaguars of Southern-Shreveport were led by Dangelo McClinton and Terrence Cobb with 13 and 10 points, respectively.