Jakorie Smith's big night sparks No. 20 Lions to 74-65 home victory over East Central
Jakorie Smith's 18th career double-double sparked the 20th-ranked EMCC Lions to a 74-65 home victory over East Central during Thursday's MACCC men's basketball action contested at Keyes T. Currie Coliseum.
SCOOBA -- Jakorie Smith's 18th career double-double sparked the 20th-ranked EMCC Lions to a 74-65 home victory over East Central during Thursday's MACCC men's basketball action contested at Keyes T. Currie Coliseum.
With only eight available players on the night, the home-standing EMCC men battled visiting East Central to five first-half ties before scoring the last five points of the half to take a 32-27 halftime lead.
With the Lions still up by five points early in the second half, the Warriors drilled three straight three-pointers – one by Christopher Keys and a pair by Damian McKnight – to ignite a 16-5 run that generated a 51-45 ECCC lead by the 11:40 mark.
Two timely Kevin Henry treys and a pair of key Traemond Pittman baskets helped stopped East Central's momentum midway through the half. With the score tied at 57-57 and eight minutes remaining in the contest, Jakorie Smith capped his big night by scoring seven consecutive points for EMCC to give the home team a 64-59 lead.
Danny Washington then produced three straight baskets for the Lions over the game's last four minutes to help account for the final nine-point margin.
Head coach Billy Begley's EMCC Lions improved to 15-4 overall and 8-2 in MACCC play with their third consecutive win since falling to nationally ranked Northeast Mississippi and Pearl River two weeks ago.
In addition to scoring 16 of his game-high 28 points after halftime, Smith collected a career-best 16 rebounds. Pittman added a season-high 17 points on 7-of-11 shooting from the field for the winners.
Falling to 4-12 overall and 2-8 within the conference, East Central's Keys matched Smith with 28 points of his own. James Granger followed with 11 points for the Warriors.
The East Mississippi basketball teams are scheduled to continue MACCC play by taking on Hinds Community College on Monday (Feb. 7). With tip-off times set for 6 p.m., the EMCC Lady Lions will play host to Hinds in Scooba and the EMCC men will travel to Utica to meet the Bulldogs.