East Mississippi sweeps pesky Coahoma 70-65 in women's game and 90-77 in men's hoops nightcap
The East Mississippi Community College basketball teams got more than they bargained for Monday evening when Coahoma Community College came to town. EMCC's Lady Lions let a big lead slip away but held on for a 70-65 win, while the Lions fended off a pesky CCC men's squad in the nightcap en route to completing the MACJC North Division sweep with a 90-77 victory at Keyes T. Currie Coliseum.
SCOOBA – The East Mississippi Community College basketball teams got more than they bargained for Monday evening when Coahoma Community College came to town. EMCC's Lady Lions let a big lead slip away but held on for a 70-65 win, while the Lions fended off a pesky CCC men's squad in the nightcap en route to completing the MACJC North Division sweep with a 90-77 victory at Keyes T. Currie Coliseum.
The home-standing Lady Lions dominated the contest early in jumping out to a 23-4 advantage following 14 unanswered points. EMCC's margin grew to 20 points (34-14) late in the opening half before settling for a seemingly comfortable 38-22 halftime lead.
Entering the game with a 2-16 overall record and winless in eight division outings on the year, the revitalized Lady Tigers chipped away at the deficit throughout the second stanza and used a 19-6 run to knot the score at 59-59 with 3:45 remaining in the contest. With Erica Collins scoring 20 of her game-high 25 points following intermission, Coahoma managed two more subsequent ties heading into the game's final two minutes.
EMCC recovered just enough in the end as Alecha Gibbs and Camry Jones combined for all seven of the Lady Lions' points down the stretch to secure the five-point triumph for the home team.
Led by Ki-Ki Patterson's 22 points, head coach Sharon Thompson's EMCC Lady Lions improved to 10-10 overall and 5-4 in division play. Bre Jernigan and Gibbs added 11 and 10 points, respectively, for the winners.
In the nightcap, the EMCC men also jumped out to a huge opening-half advantage, leading by 26 points (40-14) by the 6:30 mark following Antonio Finley's fifth made 3-pointer of the half. The Lions carried the double-digit lead (49-36) into halftime.
Just as in the women's contest, there wasn't an ounce of quit in the Coahoma men's squad, as the visiting Tigers trimmed the deficit to nine points (54-45) early in the second half. The Lions responded with six unanswered points and their double-digit margin was never seriously challenged again for the remainder of the contest.
With their fifth straight win, head coach Mark White's EMCC Lions improved to 16-4 overall and 8-1 atop the MACJC's North Division standings with Holmes. Freshman guard Daniel Simmons, of Biggersville, paced a quartet of double-figure EMCC scorers with 22 points. Finley, a Meridian High School product, followed with 15 points on his five first-half treys, while Pascagoula's La'Datren Deas added 14 points for the winners. Fellow freshman Jahyde Gardiner patrolled the inside for the Lions by registering his 10th double-double of the season with 14 points and 13 rebounds, including eight offensive boards, along with five blocked shots.
Falling to 1-18 and 0-9 within the division, the Coahoma men were led by Cameron Monix's 19 points. Da'Quan Forrest and Willie Bronson followed with 15 points apiece for the visitors.
The East Mississippi basketball teams will hit the road for MACJC North Division action Thursday evening when they travel to Fulton to take on Itawamba Community College in a 6/8 p.m. doubleheader. The hoops twinbill is slated to be video-streamed live on www.EMCCAthletics.com/live.