EMCC Lions drop hard-fought 70-65 home decision to Northwest

SCOOBA — The EMCC Lions dropped a hard-fought 70-65 home decision to Northwest Mississippi during Thursday's MACCC men's basketball action played at Keyes T. Currie Coliseum.

EMCC and Northwest battled through seven ties, including a 33-33 halftime deadlock that came about following double-digit runs by both teams during the opening half.  London Taylor scored eight points during a 12-2 Rangers run that gave the visitors a 19-10 lead midway through the half.   

Slowed by eight turnovers during the game's first 12 minutes, the Lions later overcame an 11-point deficit by scoring 11 unanswered points, including six straight points by Jakorie Smith, to knot the score at 28-28 with 2:24 remaining in the first half.

Following intermission, the two teams played through three more ties early in the second half before Northwest scored eight consecutive points to move ahead, 51-43.

As they did in the opening half, the Lions battled back to force two additional deadlocks midway through the second stanza.  Following consecutive put-back baskets by EMCC on the heels of a pair of Danny Washington steals, Blake Butler's three-point play at the 12:00 mark tied things up at 52-52.

A minute later with the score still tied (54-54), the Rangers responded by going on a 7-0 run to reclaim the advantage for good.  With the Lions not able to grab a second-half lead, they did pull to within six points (69-63) on a Butler 3-pointer with 2:37 left.  Following a two-minute scoring drought by both teams, EMCC could then only manage to cut the deficit to four points on a Nick Walker put-back basket with 24.1 ticks remaining on the game clock.

EMCC received double-double efforts by forwards Smith (22 pts/10 rebs) and Walker (12/14) – their 14^th and sixth of their respective EMCC careers.

With four players scoring in double figures, the Northwest Rangers were led by Isaiah Gaines, who scored 18 of his team-high 20 points after halftime.  Joseph Cooper was next with 15 points, followed by Ethan Pickett and Taylor with 12 and 10 points, respectively.

Coach Billy Begley's 1-1 EMCC men's squad will resume MACCC play Monday (Nov. 8) at Holmes before competing in Vincennes University's McDonald's Classic, Nov. 12-13, in Indiana, where the Lions will meet the host VU Trailblazers on Friday (6 p.m. CT) before taking on preseason sixth-ranked John A. Logan College on Saturday (4 p.m. CT).