Lions stay unbeaten in MACJC North Division play with 68-62 win at Northwest

SENATOBIA – The EMCC Lions claimed their 10^th consecutive MACJC North Division victory dating back to last season with Thursday's 68-62 road victory over Northwest Mississippi at Howard Coliseum.  The Lady Lions also remained unbeaten in division play this year with a 71-62 win over the Lady Rangers in women's action.     

In men's action, the reigning conference and division champion EMCC Lions dug out of an early 16-3 hole to take the lead by the intermission.  With the visitors still trailing, 20-11, with 6:44 left in the half, Arecko Gipson Jr. and Quamontae Monfort combined to score 10 unanswered points and give EMCC its first lead of the game, 21-20, at the 3:11 mark.  The Lions went on to outscore Northwest, 20-8, over the final seven minutes of the half to secure a 31-28 halftime lead.

Following the break, the two teams exchanged the lead seven times before the Rangers scored nine unanswered points to take a 48-40 lead with 11:25 remaining in the contest.  Despite freshman forward Jakorie Smith, the team's leading scorer and rebounder on the year, being saddled with four fouls early in the second half, EMCC continued to chip away at Northwest's lead.

Upon his return to the game, Smith's timely left-handed bucket at the rim and Monfort's tip-in helped give the Lions a 56-54 edge with less than four minutes left in the game.  Following a pair of subsequent deadlocks, the EMCC frontcourt tandem came up big again down the stretch.  Smith's corner trey and Monfort's put-back basket increased the Lions' lead to five points (63-58) with 29.3 seconds remaining to play.  The visitors then sealed their six-point road win with five made free throws over the game's final 18.8 seconds to enable Coach Billy Begley's EMCC Lions to improve to 11-4 overall and 4-0 in division play.

Gipson, out of Memphis, Tenn., led all scorers with 19 points and Powers, a Starkville product, followed with a dozen points for the winners.  Monfort, from Athens, Ga., recorded his first collegiate double-double with 11 points and 10 rebounds, including seven offensive boards, while Smith, out of Raymond High School, just missed a double-double with 11 points and nine rebounds.                      

Dropping to 9-5 overall and 1-3 within the division, the home-standing Rangers were paced by Jakobi Pearson's 17 points.  Kavonte Tunstall and R.J. Duhart added 13 and 11 points, respectively, for Northwest.

The first half of the women's game stayed within a four-point margin while also featuring six lead changes and six ties during the opening 20 minutes of play.  Northwest's largest lead of the half was 22-18 midway through the second quarter, while EMCC's biggest first-half lead was 3-0 to begin the game.

The Lady Lions first took control of the contest by beginning the second half with a 9-2 run to take an early 35-28 lead.  Sophomore guard Tye Metcalf provided EMCC's initial spark by scoring six of the team's first nine points following the halftime break. 

The Northwest women responded by scoring seven unanswered points to knot the score at 35-35 on the way to holding a 46-42 advantage heading into the fourth quarter.

After the two teams exchanged baskets on three occasions to begin the final period, the visitors reclaimed control of the game with an 8-0 run that was capped by one of five fourth-quarter field goals by reigning MACJC Player of the Week Ja'Mia Hollings.  Her pair of baskets and a Taylor Lattimore bank shot during the spurt gave the Lady Lions the lead for good.

The Lady Rangers managed to trim the deficit to 61-59 on an Ariel Tunstall bucket, but Lattimore's 3-pointer then sparked a 10-3 run over the remaining 3:30 on the clock that enabled EMCC to pull away with the nine-point road triumph.

For the second time in three games, EMCC's frontcourt tandem of Hollings and sophomore Maddie Riley each registered double-double efforts.  Hollings, a freshman from West Point, notched her eighth double-double of the year with 17 points (7-10 FGs) and 10 rebounds, while Riley, out of Velma Jackson High School, posted her ninth career collegiate double-double and third of the year with 10 points (5-6 FGs) and 11 boards.  Metcalf (Southaven) and Lattimore (Memphis, TN) added 12 points apiece to help Coach Sharon Thompson's EMCC Lady Lions improve to 13-2 overall and 4-0 in division play.

Falling to 9-5 overall and 2-2 within the division, the Northwest Lady Rangers were led by Tamarah Sykes and Zanaiyah Daniel with 16 and 15 points, respectively, off the bench.

The East Mississippi basketball teams return to action on Thursday (Jan. 23) by playing host to the Indians of Itawamba Community College in a divisional doubleheader on the Scooba campus.  A 5:30 p.m. women's game will be followed by a 7:30 p.m. men's contest at EMCC's Keyes T. Currie Coliseum.