EMCC Lions top Lawson State, 87-64, in Scooba for fifth straight win

SCOOBA – The Lions of East Mississippi Community College cruised to their fifth consecutive men's basketball victory with an 87-64 home win over Lawson State during Thursday's basketball doubleheader played at Keyes T. Currie Coliseum on the Scooba campus. In the night's opening game, the EMCC women dropped a hard-luck 75-73 decision to the visiting LSCC Lady Cougars.

The home-standing Lions held the advantage for nearly the entire men's game. They scored 10 unanswered points, capped by Keymarius Lewis' three-pointer, to open up a double-digit lead midway through the opening half. With EMCC's trio of Jermaurhiyun Anderson, DeAndre Lewis and Yamari Allette combining for 32 points between them in the first half, the Lions owned a 48-33 halftime lead.

An 8-3 Lawson State run to open the second stanza cut the margin to 10 points (51-41) by the 16:26 mark of the half. That's when Nate Pruitt's dunk and three straight baskets by Jonathan Baker fueled a 9-0 EMCC spurt that lengthened the lead to 60-41 and reestablished control for the Lions.

The visiting Cougars would get no closer than 16 points – 66-50 midway through the half – the remainder of the contest, as EMCC went on to coast to the 23-point win in the nightcap. 

For the third consecutive game, the 5-1 Lions featured four double-digit scorers. Anderson led all game scorers with 22 points (7-14 FGs & 7-9 FTs), followed by DeAndre Lewis and Allette with 19 and 12 points, respectively. Baker finished with 10 points, five assists and three steals off the EMCC bench.

Lawson State was paced by Ikemba Otuonye and Jamarcus Jackson with 14 and 12 points, respectively.

The women's contest featured 20 lead changes and came down to an unfortunate final offensive possession for the Lady Lions. After letting a seven-point lead (69-62) with six minutes left slip away, EMCC then battled back from a four-point deficit (73-69) with two minutes remaining to have a chance to either tie the game or pull out the victory in the waning seconds.

Alicea Mosley capped Lawson State's 11-0 rally with a pair of free throws with 1:25 remaining in regulation. EMCC forced back-to-back turnovers down the stretch and capitalized with consecutive baskets by Kennedi McCray and Kennedi Wagner to knot the score at 73-73 with 30 seconds left. Mosley again stepped to the line and hit two more clutch free throws with 15 ticks remaining to put the Lady Cougars back on top. The Lady Lions had three opportunities around the basket to decide the outcome, but Shalea Boddie's closely guarded trio of shot attempts would not fall during the game's final seconds.

Earlier in the game after trailing by seven points (21-14) in the opening quarter, the EMCC women cut the deficit to 23-22 by the end of the first 10 minutes of play. The Lady Lions later erased a five-point (32-27) Lawson State lead in the second quarter to take a slim 41-40 lead into intermission.

The second stanza began with eight lead changes during the opening six minutes of the half before EMCC went on a 7-0 spurt to take a 55-49 lead on La'dymein Lafayette's put-back basket with 1:23 left in the third quarter. Her pair of free throws at the end of the quarter gave the Lady Lions a 58-53 lead heading into the final 10 minutes of action.

EMCC bumped up its lead to seven points (69-62) on Je'Niecia Hill's three-point play at the 5:53 mark of the fourth quarter. That's when the Lady Cougars responded with their game-changing 11-0 run that would ultimately lead them to their sixth straight win to open the season.

The 2-3 Lady Lions were led in scoring by Lafayette and Micaiah Satcher with 14 and 13 points, respectively.

The unbeaten Lawson State women were paced by Breona Walker's game-high 23 points. Keziah Seay followed with 13 points, while Mosley and Terrin Haynes both added a dozen points.

East Mississippi and Lawson State will head to Birmingham for Saturday's (Nov. 16) rematch twin bill beginning with a 2 p.m. women's game.