EMCC Lions advance to seventh straight regional hoops semifinal with 78-60 win over Southern-Shreveport

CLINTON – The Lions of East Mississippi Community College scored a convincing 78-60 victory over Southern-Shreveport in Wednesday's quarterfinals of the NJCAA Region 23 Basketball Tournament being held this week at A.E. Wood Coliseum on the Mississippi College campus.

Improving their composite NJCAA Region 23 Tournament record to 15-2 under head coach Mark White's guidance, including four consecutive regional championships and subsequent NJCAA Tournament appearances between 2010 and 2013, the fourth-seeded EMCC Lions advance to meet MACJC State Champion Pearl River Community College in Friday's 2 p.m. semifinals.  PRCC, the region's top seed, escaped Wednesday's quarterfinals with a 68-67 come-from-behind win over No. 8 seed Baton Rouge Community College.

Friday's other semifinal-round men's matchup will have No. 7 seed East Central taking on MACJC North Division Champion Holmes at noon Friday.  ECCC upset No. 2 seed and reigning NJCAA Division I National Champion Jones County, 67-64 during Wednesday's quarterfinals, while third-seeded Holmes earned a 78-68 victory over No. 6 seed Northeast Mississippi.

Coming off their 78-74 quarterfinal-round setback to Mississippi Gulf Coast during last week's MACJC State Tournament in Wesson, the 18-7 EMCC Lions quickly established dominance against Southern-Shreveport with 12 unanswered points that created a double-digit margin in the contest.  The lead grew to 19 points a couple of times in the opening half before the MACJC North Division runners-up settled for a 46-32 halftime advantage.

The SUSLA Jaguars scored the first four points following the intermission, but East Mississippi quickly re-established command with a 10-1 spurt keyed by back-to-back 3-pointers from sophomore Chris Rhoney three minutes into the second stanza.  From there the margin grew to as many as 23 points (66-43) by the 12:44 mark en route to the 18-point final outcome.

Scoring 13 of his team-high 18 points from the charity stripe on the night, Pascagoula freshman guard La'Datren Deas paced a quartet of double-figure EMCC scorers against Southern-Shreveport.  Rhoney, a West Lauderdale High School product, finished with 15 points, followed by freshman forwards Jahyde Gardiner and Juan Davis Jr. with 14 and 11 points, respectively.     

Southern-Shreveport received a game-high 19 points from Patrick Smith, while Dangelo McClinton and Xairius Larry added 15 points apiece.