No. 7 Lions handed 72-59 home setback by MACCC-leading Pearl River
The EMCC Lions' challenging week of hoops competition continued with a 72-59 home setback to conference-leading Pearl River during Thursday's MACCC men's action contested at Keyes T. Currie Coliseum.
SCOOBA -- The EMCC Lions' challenging week of hoops competition continued with a 72-59 home setback to conference-leading Pearl River during Thursday's MACCC men's action contested at Keyes T. Currie Coliseum.
The Lions faced their second title contender of the week after having their nine-game winning streak snapped Monday at No. 20 Northeast Mississippi. The Wildcats responded to the challenge by extending their win string to 10 consecutive games with the double-digit road victory over EMCC.
The visitors jumped out to an early 14-7 lead after hitting four made three-pointers during the opening five minutes of play. Following a Danny Washington basket for EMCC, the Wildcats then scored seven unanswered points to extend their advantage to 21-9 midway through the half.
Pearl River maintained its double-digit margin for the remainder of the first half on the strength of red-hot perimeter shooting. The Wildcats drilled a total of eight treys during the half, including a banked triple by Jair Currie at the halftime buzzer that stretched their lead to 41-26.
The Lions responded after intermission with some three-point prowess of their own. Blake Butler's second trey of the half cut the deficit to nine points (51-42) at the 12:31 mark. Two minutes later, Brandon Deravine's three-pointer pulled EMCC to within six points (53-47).
That was as close as the Lions would get, however, as PRCC's Jariyon Wilkens hit a baseline floater and two subsequent free throws to push the margin back up to double figures.
Falling to 12-4 overall and 5-2 in MACCC play with their second straight loss, head coach Billy Begley's EMCC Lions were led by Jakorie Smith's 14 points. Butler and Kevin Henry followed with 10 points apiece.
With their 10th straight victory dating back to Nov. 30, PRCC's Wildcats, now 14-2 overall and 9-0 in MACCC play, were paced by twin brothers Jariyon and Jaronn Wilkens with 14 points apiece.
The EMCC men will play their third game in six days by playing host to the Trojans of Mississippi Delta in a Saturday afternoon (Jan. 29) makeup game previously postponed from Jan. 20 due to COVID-19 concerns. Saturday's EMCC-Delta men's contest is set for a 3:30 p.m. tip-off at Currie Coliseum on the Scooba campus, and there will be no charge for admission.