Four-time regional champion EMCC Lions to meet Howard College in Monday’s NJCAA tourney tip-off from Kansas

HUTCHINSON, Kan. – As the only Division I men's basketball program to have earned a berth in the NJCAA Tournament each of the last four years, the Lions of East Mississippi Community College will meet Howard College (Texas) in Monday's Game 3 of the 2013 NJCAA Men's Basketball National Championship.  Tip-off is set for 2 p.m. CT at the Hutchinson (Kan.) Sports Arena.

All 24 games from the week-long (March 18-23) national tournament are scheduled to be video-streamed live on NJCAA TV (www.ihigh.com/njcaatv/).  With EMCC media director Derek Cody on the call, the Lions' tournament action will also be audio-streamed live via Ustream on the school's athletics website, www.EMCCAthletics.com.  Monday's radio broadcast can also be heard live on WFCA-FM (107.9), out of French Camp, as well as online at www.wfcafm108.com.

The winner of Monday's EMCC-Howard matchup will advance to meet home-standing and fourth-seeded Hutchinson Community College (31-3) Tuesday at 6:30 p.m. CT (Game 11).  The single-elimination tournament will conclude with Saturday's championship game and third-place contest.

Seeded 20^th in this year's national tournament and winners of nine of their last 10 games, the 20-7 EMCC Lions knocked off Mississippi Delta (72-58), Baton Rouge (68-60) and Northwest Mississippi (66-62), March 6-9 in Clinton, to claim their fourth consecutive NJCAA Region 23 men's basketball tournament title.  Under the guidance of sixth-year head coach Mark White, the Lions have posted a four-year composite mark of 95-25 (.792) as four-time reigning District 15/Region 23 champions dating back to the 2009-10 hoops campaign.

This season, EMCC split with a pair of teams also participating in this year's NJCAA Tournament.  On consecutive days (Dec. 28-29) at the Fiesta Bowl Junior College Shootout, hosted by Mesa (Ariz.) Community College, the Lions handed No. 6 national seed Central Arizona College one of its four losses on the year with a 73-59 victory over the Vaqueros.  The next day, EMCC dropped a 68-61 decision to No. 11 national seed Salt Lake Community College.

A year ago in Hutchinson, East Mississippi gave eventual NJCAA national champion South Plains (TX) College its toughest game of the tournament before falling 71-63 in the opening round.  In that contest, the Lions held current Ole Miss junior guard Marshall Henderson to just 10 points on only 4-of-19 shooting from the field and 1-of-9 from beyond the arc.  EMCC was then eliminated from last year's NJCAA Tournament by eventual consolation bracket winner Indian Hills Community College also by single digits (79-70).    

With six players averaging 7.1 points per game or better on the year, the EMCC Lions are powered by All-American candidate Jarekious Bradley, who transferred from Midland College in Texas.  Bradley, from Memphis East High School, ranks sixth nationally in scoring with an average of 21.6 points per game and 11^th in free throw shooting at 87.4 percent from the line on the year.  The 6-foot-5, 220-pound performer also averages a team-leading 7.8 rebounds an outing while shooting 51 percent overall from the field and 41 percent from behind the three-point line.   

Also scoring in double figures for East Mississippi on the season are All-Region 23 freshman guard Jacolby Mobley, from Starkville, and sophomore forward Micah Walker, of Jonesboro, Ark., at 13.6 and 10.6 points per game, respectively.  Sophomore center Earnest Hunter, of Noxubee County High School, averages 8.4 points, 6.1 rebounds and 1.5 blocks per contest in addition to shooting 60 percent from the field.  Freshman playmaker Nick Giles, from Kemper County High School, averages 5.3 assists an outing from his point guard position.

Hailing from a powerhouse conference (Western Junior College Athletic Conference) which has had a representative in the NJCAA Division I men's basketball national championship game each of the past six seasons (2007-12), the Howard College Hawks, of Big Spring, Texas, are 28-5 overall on the year as the tournament's No. 13 national seed.  Howard previously claimed the 2010 national championship.

As one of four at-large teams to make it into this year's expanded, 24-team seeded field, Howard College had its nine-game winning streak snapped by dropping a 60-59 decision to New Mexico Junior College (seeded eighth nationally in this week's tournament) in the championship game of the NJCAA Region 5 tournament held in Lubbock, Texas.

Featuring seven players averaging 6.8 points or more on the season, the Howard Hawks are led by 6-foot-7 freshman forward Cameron Forte, who is the No. 3 scorer among the NJCAA Division I ranks at 22.7 points per game as a 63-percent shooter from the field.  The Tempe, Ariz., native also leads the Hawks in rebounding (7.6 rpg) and steals (2.0 spg).

Updated results, scores and game statistics throughout the tournament will be available at www.njcaabbtrny.org.

2013 NJCAA Division I Men's Basketball Tournament Bracket