East Mississippi Lions garner postseason basketball honors

SCOOBA – East Mississippi Community College standout guard Tyeisha Juhan has been named to the 2017-18 NJCAA's All-Region 23 women's basketball team to highlight EMCC's basketball honorees from this past season. 

Along with Juhan earning all-region honors and repeating as a first-team MACJC All-State (North Division) selection for head coach Sharon Thompson's EMCC Lady Lions, backcourt mate Kaisah Lucky garnered second-team all-state accolades.

For head men's basketball coach Billy Begley's EMCC Lions, freshman guard Cam Horton was chosen to the MACJC's All-State (North Division) Second Team.

A sophomore from Jonesboro, Georgia, Juhan ranked as the nation's sixth-leading scorer (21.6 ppg) in NJCAA Division I women's basketball this past year.  She also averaged 7.5 rebounds, 2.7 steals and 1.6 assists per game as a sophomore, while shooting 43 percent from the field, 34 percent from the three-point arc and 79 percent from the free throw line.

As a two-time NJCAA Division I National Player of the Week and four-time MACJC State Player of the Week selection during her two EMCC seasons, Juhan totaled 899 points (20.9 ppg), 305 rebounds (7.1 rpg), 106 steals (2.5 spg) and 75 assists (1.7 apg) in 43 career games.  With nine career double-doubles and five 30-point scoring efforts to her credit, she also posted career shooting percentages of 44 percent from the field overall, 32 percent from behind the three-point line and 76 percent from the charity stripe.

During her freshman season on the Scooba campus, Juhan ranked as the nation's No. 9 scorer in NJCAA Division I women's basketball with a state-best 20.2 points per contest.  In addition to averaging 6.7 rebounds, 2.3 steals and 1.9 assists as a collegiate rookie, she shot 45 percent from the field, 30 percent from the arc and 74 percent from the line.      

Lucky, from Brooklyn, New York, was a two-year starter at point guard for the Lady Lions.  Along with ranking as EMCC's third-leading scorer (10.2 ppg) this past season, she averaged 5.3 assists and 5.0 rebounds per game while shooting 38 percent from the field and 73 percent from the line.

On the men's side, EMCC's Horton averaged a team-leading 13.7 points per game while shooting 41 percent overall from the field, 37 percent from the three-point arc and 74 percent from the free throw line this past year.  He also averaged 2.9 rebounds and 2.1 assists an outing for the Lions on the season.  A native of Jacksonville, Alabama, Horton was named MACJC Player of the Week during Week 11 of the 2017-18 basketball season after scoring a career-high 36 points on 14-of-19 field-goal shooting, including 4-of-8 three-point accuracy, at Mississippi Delta on Jan. 22.   

In addition, East Mississippi Community College was represented during last Friday's MACJC All-Star Basketball Games by a quartet of sophomore standouts who helped propel the MACJC North Division All-Stars to a pair of victories over the South All-Stars at Brackeen-Wood Gymnasium on the East Central Community College campus in Decatur.  In the women's contest, Lucky was the team's second-leading scorer with 12 points on 5-of-6 shooting from the field while Columbus' Kayla Rogers added eight points (3-4 FGs) and six rebounds to help lead the North All-Stars to a 76-74 victory.  In the men's nightcap, EMCC's Keith Harris (7 pts & 3 rebs) of Starkville and Ill'yan Scott (6 pts, 7 rebs & 2 blks) of Pascagoula contributed to the North All-Stars' 109-108 overtime victory.