Lions complete doubleheader division sweep with 77-70 road win over Northeast

BOONEVILLE – The East Mississippi Community College basketball teams recorded a key MACJC North Division road sweep over Northeast Mississippi Community College Tuesday evening at Bonner Arnold Coliseum.  The EMCC women remained unbeaten in division play with a 68-55 win, while the Lions completed the sweep with a 77-70 victory in the nightcap.

To tip off the evening, double-double efforts by Quantesha Patterson and Tyeisha Juhan lifted the EMCC women to their third straight win to begin division play.  The Lions capped the successful road twin bill by erasing an 11-point, second-half deficit against the reigning Region 23 men's champions.

During the nightcap pitting last year's two NJCAA Tournament representatives from the MACJC, the EMCC men drilled their first five three-point attempts to take a 26-16 advantage by the 11:25 mark of the opening half.  Following a timeout, the Tigers responded with eight unanswered points to begin a 24-7 run that put the home team on top by seven points (40-33) at the intermission.

Northeast's advantage grew to 11 points at the start of the second half, before the Lions went on an 11-1 run to pull within a poins (45-44) by the 14:16 mark on a David McFarland 3-pointer.  The visitors were able to reclaim the lead (54-52) later in the half on another McFarland trey with 8:47 remaining in the contest.

Four lead changes and two ties later over the next seven minutes, McFarland gave the Lions the lead for good with 1:45 left.  Following a missed one-and-one opportunity by Northeast's Zach Hudson, EMCC's Anterio McKines drained his third 3-pointer of the contest to put the Lions ahead, 70-66, with under a minute remaining.

The game's final 11 points were then all scored at the charity stripe, as the Tigers were relegated to fouling during the final minute while also attempting to get to the line to score with the clock stopped.

With four players scoring in double figures on the night, head coach Billy Begley's EMCC Lions improved to 6-6 overall and 2-1 in division play.  McFarland, a sophomore out of Raymond High School, scored a game-high 23 points on 9-of-12 shooting, including 4-of-6 accuracy from beyond the arc.  Starkville's Keith Harris came off the bench to contribute 16 points and nine rebounds, while McKines and Josh Skinner followed with 12 and 11 points, respectively, for the winners.

Falling to 9-5 overall and 1-2 within the division after being held to 37-percent, second-half shooting, the Northeast men were paced by Leroy Buchanan's 20 points.  Williams and Kendall Stafford added 19 and 12 points, respectively.

The East Mississippi basketball teams will host a pair of doubleheaders next week on the Scooba campus.  After playing host to the Trojans of Mississippi Delta Community College on Monday, the Lions will welcome the Itawamba Indians for a Thursday twin bill.  Both upcoming home hoops doubleheaders will tip off with a 5:30 p.m. women's game followed by a 7:30 p.m. men's contest at EMCC's Keyes T. Currie Coliseum.