EMCC Lions remain unbeaten with 57-47 road victory over Meridian CC
The East Mississippi Community College men’s basketball team will head to the Thanksgiving holiday break unbeaten at 6-0 after posting a 57-47 road win over Meridian Community College during Thursday’s non-conference action played at Graham Gymnasium.
MERIDIAN – The East Mississippi Community College men's basketball team will head to the Thanksgiving holiday break unbeaten at 6-0 after posting a 57-47 road win over Meridian Community College during Thursday's non-conference action played at Graham Gymnasium.
After three early ties, the Lions scored 11 unanswered points to take a 20-9 lead on Ashten Michael's three-pointer with six minutes remaining in the opening half. Toward the end of the half, Andrew Mason's trey gave the visitors their largest lead (28-16) of the half.
The Eagles cut EMCC's 12-point halftime lead to four points by coming out of halftime on a 9-1 run. Two baskets by Talib Ferrette and four straight free throws from Randarius Hughes cut the lead to 29-25 by the 16:31 mark.
The margin stayed within single digits for the majority of the remainder of the game. After Meridian cut it to a six-point game (48-42) on two more Ferrette free throws with three minutes left, the Lions went on a 7-1 spurt to basically put their sixth consecutive victory on ice. Blake Butler's fast-break bucket after a steal was followed by a Mason runner in the lane and DJ Avery's three-point play to extend EMCC's lead back to a dozen points (55-43) with just 37 seconds remaining on the game clock.
Coming off his spectacular 45-point performance earlier in the week at Northwest Mississippi, Butler finished with a team-high 16 points, including nine points in the second half on 4-of-5 shooting from the field. Mason and Avery also scored in double digits with 12 and 11 points, respectively. The trio from the state of Kentucky combined to score 39 of EMCC's 57 points in the victory.
Meridian was paced by Ferrette's game-high 19 points. Hughes followed with 11 points.
Coach Billy Begley's 6-0 EMCC Lions will resume action following the Thanksgiving holiday by playing host to the Piney Woods School on Monday, Nov. 28. The reigning MACCC Tournament champions are then slated to close out the calendar year with road outings at Hinds (Dec. 5), Jones College (Dec. 8) and Shelton State (Dec. 12).