EMCC Lions claim fourth straight win to improve to 10-2 heading into Christmas holiday break

HANCEVILLE, Ala. – In a high-scoring contest that featured 65 fouls called and 114 free throw attempts, the visiting Lions of East Mississippi Community College reached the 10-win mark on the season with Friday night's 105-101 road victory over Wallace State Community College. EMCC's final game prior to the upcoming Christmas holiday break was played at Traditions Bank Arena in Hanceville, Ala.

Playing without their leading scorer on the year, freshman guard and reigning MACCC Player of the Week Jordan Alexander due to illness, EMCC received 55 combined points from sophomores DeAndre Lewis (31 pts) and Diovion Famakinde (24 pts) to improve to 10-2 on the year with their fourth straight win.

After the visitors opened up a 10-point (21-11) lead midway through the opening half, the home-standing Lions went on a 16-6 run late in the half to move ahead, 36-32, with two minutes left. EMCC was able to cut the deficit to one point (40-39) by halftime.

The second stanza began with both teams exchanging runs. EMCC answered Wallace State's five straight points to open the half by responding with 12 unanswered points to take a 51-45 lead on Josh Brown's three-pointer at the 17:33 mark. The visitors went up by as many as nine points while maintaining the advantage for the next nine minutes of game action.

After Wallace State knotted the score at 78-78 on Jaeden Rush's three-point basket at the 8:44 mark, the teams battled through four subsequent lead changes and a pair of deadlocks during a three-minute span that set up the game's final stretch run.

With the visiting Lions having to resort to finishing the contest minus four starters due to foul difficulties, they re-established control of the game on the defensive end and sealed the road victory at the charity stripe. Off the EMCC bench, Donovan Griffin had a key blocked shot and forced a Wallace State turnover on a tie-up, while Jace O'Neal also blocked a shot at a critical moment and later added a crucial put-back basket that keyed a 10-0 spurt.

Famakinde, out of Brooklyn, N.Y., handled the scoring load for EMCC down the stretch. His 19 second-half points featured 15-of-16 accuracy from the free throw line. The Olney Central College transfer hit 17 of his 18 charity tosses during the game to match his career high of 24 points initially set last season against Wilbur Wright College.      

Lewis, who earned All-MACCC honorable mention recognition a season ago as an EMCC freshman, also equaled his collegiate high of 31 points previously set a season ago versus Northwest Mississippi. The former Canton High School standout connected on 11-of-14 shots from the field against Wallace State, including hitting all six of his field goal attempts during a 17-point second half.

Sophomore forward Curly Robinson also reached double figures for EMCC by adding a career-high 14 points, including 10 after halftime, on 10-of-12 accuracy from the charity stripe.

As a team in their final hoops action prior to the upcoming Christmas holiday break, the EMCC Lions posted impressive shooting marks of 51 percent (27-53 FGs) overall from the field, 56 percent (9-16 treys) from beyond the three-point arc, and 84 percent from the free throw line that encompassed a notable 42 makes in 50 attempts.

Falling to 5-5 on the season, Wallace State placed four scorers in double digits, led by Kylen Clark and Trey Knight with 26 and 23 points, respectively.

Head coach Billy Begley's 10-2 EMCC Lions will venture to the Sunshine State of Florida upon their return from the Christmas holiday break to participate in the Pensacola State College-hosted New Year's Classic, Dec. 30-31. In their fourth in-season tournament of the current campaign, the Lions are slated to meet Coastal Alabama-North on Tuesday followed by Alabama-based Calhoun Community College the next day prior to the new year.