EMCC Lions open week with 64-55 hoops win at Holmes

GOODMAN -- The visiting EMCC Lions opened the new week with a 64-55 road win over the Holmes Bulldogs during Monday's MACCC men's basketball action played at Frank Branch Coliseum. 

EMCC and Holmes battled through six ties and seven lead changes during the opening half before the two teams settled for a 31-31 deadlock at the halftime break.

After four more lead changes and a 34-34 tie during the opening minutes of the second stanza, the Lions took control of the contest by going on a 15-0 run that turned a 40-37 deficit into a 52-40 advantage during an eight-minute span.  A jumper by Blake Butler started the rally and Chris Newell's three-pointer put the visitors up by a dozen points with 6:35 remaining in the game.

The Bulldogs responded by quickly cutting the deficit in half (52-46) with back-to-back treys by Darrius Clark and Caleb Campbell.  

Nick Walker continued to establish his dominance inside by scoring EMCC's next seven points to put the visitors on top by 10 points (59-49) late in the contest.  The Hattiesburg product recorded his second straight double-double and seventh of his career by finishing with 23 points on 10-of-11 shooting from the field and adding 14 rebounds.

Holmes briefly made things interesting down the stretch by trimming the margin to five points (59-54) on Jordan Brister's four-point play at the 1:32 mark.  EMCC then secured the nine-point road win by scoring five of the game's last six points.

Butler and Newell added double-figure scoring with 10 points apiece for the winners.

Clark and Campbell led Holmes with 14 and 13 points, respectively.

Coach Billy Begley's 2-1 EMCC Lions travel to Indiana to participate in the McDonald's Classic hosted by traditional powerhouse Vincennes University on Friday and Saturday (Nov. 12-13).  East Mississippi will take on the host VU Trailblazers on Friday (6 p.m. CT) before meeting nationally third-ranked John A. Logan College on Saturday (4 p.m. CT).