Lions let halftime lead slip away in 63-56 setback at Itawamba in road conference finale

FULTON – In their final road action of the regular season, the Lions of East Mississippi Community College let an eight-point halftime lead slip away en route to absorbing a 63-56 setback to Itawamba during Thursday's MACCC men's basketball action played at the Davis Event Center. In the women's contest, EMCC's Lady Lions dropped a 66-43 decision to the home-standing ICC Lady Indians.

EMCC's basketball teams will close out their regular-season slate Monday (March 3) by playing host to Meridian Community College 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 Keyes T. Currie Coliseum.

The upcoming NJCAA Region 23 Basketball Tournaments will consist of 12-team fields, which will each comprise of the top 11 men's and women's teams from the Mississippi Association of Community Colleges Conference (MACCC) and the men's and women's team champions from the Louisiana Community Colleges Athletic Conference (LCCAC). Both tournaments will consist of four rounds played in single-elimination formats at the home sites of the respective men's and women's regular-season team champions. With the top four teams from the men's and women's final regular-season MACCC basketball standings all receiving opening-round byes, the first two rounds of this year's region tournaments will be played on campus sites Thursday (March 6) and the following Monday (March 10). The separate week-long tournaments are then set to conclude with men's semifinals and finals on March 12-13 followed by women's semifinals and finals on March 14-15.

The Pearl River Community College women have secured their second straight MACCC championship by finishing the regular season with a 13-1 conference mark and 24-2 overall record. Heading into Monday's final day of the regular season, the Jones College Bobcats (26-3; 12-1 MACCC) hold a one-game lead over the current second-place Itawamba Indians (24-4; 11-2 MACCC).   

Through Thursday's MACCC hoops action, head coach Isaiah Butler's EMCC Lady Lions (9-16; 4-9 MACCC) head into Monday's final regular-season action tied with Copiah-Lincoln (14-14; 4-9 MACCC) and Jones College (7-18; 4-9 MACCC) for 11^th place in the current conference standings. EMCC earned home victories over both Co-Lin (62-55 on Jan. 23) and Jones (61-42 on Feb. 3) earlier this season in Scooba.  

In the current MACCC men's basketball standings through Thursday's play, head coach Billy Begley's EMCC Lions (10-18; 4-9 MACCC) have been officially eliminated from playoff contention and will enter Monday's regular-season finale against Meridian in 12^th place. The two teams who presently sit one game ahead of EMCC in the men's standings – Coahoma (15-12; 5-8 MACCC) and Mississippi Delta (13-14; 5-8 MACCC) – both knocked off the Lions during regular-season play. EMCC dropped a 60-58 overtime decision at Delta on Feb. 6 and fell at home to Coahoma 71-60 on Feb. 17.

In Thursday's road action at Itawamba, the visiting Lions drilled eight 3-pointers, including five made treys by DeAndre Lewis, to grab a 36-28 halftime advantage over home-standing Itawamba.

The Indians methodically cut into their eight-point deficit coming out of the halftime break. After ICC knotted the score at 41-41, the two teams exchanged leads four times before EMCC went back ahead by four points (50-46) on Lewis' sixth 3-pointer of the night coming at the 11:06 mark.

With the score tied again at 50-50 midway through the second half, the game-changing stretch of the contest came when the Indians capitalized on consecutive costly EMCC turnovers in the midst of a five-minute span that saw a four-point EMCC lead turn into an eight-point (58-50) ICC advantage by the 5:50 mark.

The Lions managed to cut the deficit to five points on a couple of different occasions down the stretch with Jermaurhiyun Anderson baskets to keep the visitors within reach. ICC's Dayveun Anderson countered with two clutch free throws with 35.6 seconds remaining that made it a three-possession contest and ultimately provided the game's final margin.

EMCC's Lewis finished with a game-high 21 points with his six made 3-pointers. The freshman from Canton also collected eight rebounds along with posting his sixth 20-point outing of the season. Yamari Allette followed with 13 points for the Lions.

The ICC men were led by AJ Dent and James Turner with a dozen points apiece, while Anderson added 11 points for the Indians.

In women's action to tip off Thursday's hoops twin bill at ICC, the visiting Lady Lions jumped out to a quick 6-0 lead before the ICC women answered with eight straight points to take the lead. EMCC would not reclaim the lead in the contest following an early 8-8 tie.

The Lady Indians steadily increased their lead throughout the night utilizing their depth. A 16-10 lead after the first quarter was increased to eight points (25-17) by halftime. After ICC went up by double digits to begin the second stanza, the Lady Lions were able to cut the deficit to seven points (37-30) on Zarria Shipp's 3-pointer with 2:35 left in the third quarter.

ICC responded by closing out the quarter with a 7-1 spurt to take a 13-point (44-31) advantage into the final 10 minutes of play. The Lady Indians proceeded to outscore EMCC, 22-12, during the fourth quarter to coast to the 23-point victory.

Dukiaha Jones was EMCC's lone double-digit scorer in the game with 10 points in addition to collecting four steals. Shalea Boddie approached a third straight double-double effort but fell just short with nine points and nine rebounds.

The ICC women were paced by Jestiny Dixon and Tootie Lockett with 21 and 14 points, respectively.