No. 4 seed EMCC Lions down Pearl River to advance to NJCAA Region 23 hoops semifinals

SCOOBA – The fourth-seeded Lions of East Mississippi Community College reached the 20-win mark for the second straight season by earning a come-from-behind 56-53 home victory over No. 5 seed Pearl River during Wednesday's quarterfinal-round action of the 2023 NJCAA Region 23 Men's Basketball Tournament played at Keyes T. Currie Coliseum on the Scooba campus.

Rating as the lone men's team that received a first-round bye to advance in the week-long tournament, head coach Billy Begley's 20-5 EMCC Lions will take on No. 8 seed Jones College during Saturday's first men's semifinal-round contest. Tip-off is set for 5 p.m. at Mississippi College's A.E. Wood Coliseum in Clinton. The men's semifinal nightcap will pit 11^th-seeded Coahoma against No. 7 seed Meridian at 7 p.m.

EMCC and Jones split their regular-season men's series, with the Lions avenging their first loss of the season (58-49 in Ellisville on Dec. 8) by claiming a narrow 77-76 home win over the Bobcats on Jan. 23 in Scooba.

The women's regional semifinals on Saturday will feature top-seeded and nationally eighth-ranked Jones College versus No. 4 seed Mississippi Gulf Coast at noon, followed by second-seeded Pearl River against No. 3 seed Meridian at 2 p.m.

With automatic bids to the upcoming NJCAA Division I Basketball Championships at stake, Sunday's NJCAA Region 23 Tournament championship contests will be played at 3 p.m. (women) and 5 p.m. (men) on the MC campus in Clinton. Tickets will be sold day of game on site at A.E. Wood Coliseum for $8 for adults and $5 for youth ages 6 years old to college students.

Rating as the highest seeded men's team remaining in the region tourney, the Lions bounced back from an early 10-3 deficit in their postseason opener to force three first-half ties before the Wildcats went back ahead and rebuilt their lead. A pair of three-pointers by Cam Brown and one by Jermahri Hill helped increase PRCC's advantage to nine points (30-21) late in the opening half.

The halftime break proved to be just what the home team needed, as the Lions came out of the locker room on an 11-2 run that put them in front (34-32) for the first time since scoring the game's first point. That spurt to begin the second stanza later led to six more deadlocks that ultimately set up a thrilling finish.

With the game tied at 40-40 midway through the half, the Wildcats scored seven unanswered points to briefly regain the momentum. The Lions promptly responded with seven straight points of their own to pull even again. The hard-fought battle would be tied two more times before heading into the game's exciting final couple of minutes.

After Terrell Dixon's put-back basket put EMCC on top (53-51) for good at the 2:22 mark, neither team would score over the next two minutes as the defense tightened on both ends of the court. The Wildcats couldn't find the mark from either three-point land or pull-up range during the stretch, while the Lions didn't take advantage of critical one-and-one opportunities by missing twice on front-end free throws.   

Following another empty possession by Pearl River, EMCC's Jacob Reese quickly handed his defensive rebound to Kevin Henry, who utilized his 81-percent shooting touch by drilling both free throws to make it a two-possession game (55-51) with 19.2 seconds remaining. PRCC's Carlous Williams quickly answered with a driving basket on a feed from Dylan Brumfield to cut the deficit in half and make it a 55-53 contest with 9.6 seconds left.

On the game's final exchange, EMCC's Blake Butler was sent to the charity stripe with 5.6 ticks remaining on the game clock. The MACCC Player of the Year candidate nailed the back end of a two-shot foul to put the Lions up by three points. While having to advance the ball full court on the game's final play, Pearl River attempted a potential game-tying three-pointer that misfired as the final buzzer sounded.

Butler and Henry led the way for the Lions with 14 and 13 points, respectively. Terrell Dixon added nine points and eight rebounds for the winners, while all nine of Andrew Mason's points off the EMCC bench came during the second half.

Pearl River's Brown topped all game scorers with 17 points, followed by Brumfield and Williams with 15 and 13 points, respectively, for the Wildcats.