EMCC Lions earn much-needed 75-70 home conference win over Meridian
The Lions of East Mississippi Community College got back into the win column with a much-needed 75-70 home conference victory over Meridian Community College during Thursday’s MACCC basketball action played at Keyes T. Currie Coliseum.
SCOOBA – The Lions of East Mississippi Community College got back into the win column with a much-needed 75-70 home conference victory over Meridian Community College during Thursday's MACCC basketball action played at Keyes T. Currie Coliseum.
Playing without injured guard Jordan Alexander, the MACCC's third-leading scorer (20.0 ppg) on the year, for the sixth straight game, the EMCC men claimed their first win since prior to the holiday break. The Lions improved their overall record to 11-9 on the year in picking up their first conference victory of the season.
After jumping out to a quick 6-0 lead over Meridian, the Lions held the advantage for most of the opening half of play. Diovion Famakinde pumped in 18 of his career-high 27 points during the first 20 minutes of action to propel EMCC to a 38-31 halftime lead.
The Lions maintained their lead until midway through the second half when the Eagles scored six unanswered points to take a 57-56 lead on James Turner's putback basket at the 7:52 mark. A minute later, Kameron Wilkes' three-pointer broke a tie and put the visitors on top 60-57.
Later in the contest, KJ Barnes' fourth trey of the half and fifth of the game gave Meridian a 63-59 lead with 3:20 remaining in the contest. The Lions responded with eight straight points to flip the four-point margin (67-63) with under two minutes left to play.
Down the stretch, Famakinde keyed a 5-0 spurt with a driving basket and a pair of free throws to give the Lions a seemingly comfortable seven-point advantage (72-65) with 26.7 seconds remaining on the game clock. Meridian quickly countered, however, with a Fred Motley three-pointer followed by a Ju'Juan Ray steal and resulting basket on EMCC's subsequent inbounds attempt to make it a two-point (72-70) contest with 14.8 seconds left.
Famakinde, a Brooklyn native via Olney (Ill.) Central College, once again came through in the clutch by capping a 14-of-17 effort at the free throw line with two more charity tosses to essentially seal EMCC's first victory since Dec. 5.
Along with Famakinde's game-high 27 points, EMCC freshman guard Jace O'Neal followed with 16 points off the bench. Sophomore swingman DeAndre Lewis scored all nine of his points in the second half, including a key offensive putback followed by two free throws a possession later that helped the Lions re-establish control of the contest coming down the homestretch.
Barnes paced the Eagles with 21 points, while Motley and Ray added 12 and 11 points, respectively, for the visitors.
East Mississippi's basketball teams will be back in conference action on the road Tuesday (Jan. 27) against Jones College. The 5:30/7:30 p.m. hoops doubleheader at A.B. Howard Gymnasium in Ellisville was postponed a day due to this weekend's wintry weather forecast and the storm's possible lingering effects on Monday.
