By Staff
TO THE HOOP Meridian Community College's Jay Ragan drives past Wallace Selma's Cedrick Cooke, who reaches for the ball while Adrian Moss tries to catch up. Photo by Paula Merritt/The Meridian Star
By Robbie Robertson/The Meridian Star
The Meridian Community College men's basketball team must have missed the weekend rains. Because they are still in a drought.
The Eagles only scored 13 points over a 17-minute stretch and fell short in a last-minute rally as visiting Wallace-Selma Community College got its first win in a 63-62 thriller at Ivy Sports Center.
The Eagles fell to 2-4 on the season while the Patriots improve to 1-3.
It was another tough loss for the Eagles who shot horridly in the middle of the contest but led 24-11 at one point.
It was also a contrast of the first contest between the two teams, a 55-50 win by MCC. In that contest, center Rocky Lane had 22 points.
The Eagles started the game out hot as they led 12-0 with three-pointers from Sammie Cole and Robert Ivy and buckets by Kevin Nelson, Lane and Jay Ragan.
MCC continued it hot shooting as Cole and Ragan each hit three pointers and led 24-11 at the 9:47 mark on a Edward Montrell bucket. That's when the drought started.
The Patriots fought back with a 10-0 run to get back to 24-21 at the 3:34 mark on a Elliot Hall rebound and putback. Then Damien Ross' three-pointer at the buzzer tied the game at 30-30.
The Patriots their hot shooting and outscored the Eagles 18-7 over the first seven minutes of the second half to take their largest lead at 48-37.
The Eagles got back in the contest with a 9-2 spurt that cut the lead to 50-46 on a Cole bucket at the 8:52 mark.
The Patriots maintained their lead over the final minutes and led 62-55 at the 2:10 mark.
But then the Eagles stormed back as Cole's three-pointer at the 1:00 mark cut the score to 62-58. After the three, Ragan stole the inbounds pass and hit two free throws after being fouled to make the score 62-60.
After both teams turned the ball over, the MCC defense blocked a Patriot shot and Ragan hit a running layup with 11.9 seconds left to bring the crowd to its feet.
The Patriots then rushed down court and Cedric Cooke was fouled with 5.2 seconds remaining. He hit the last of two for the final margin.
Ragan led all scorers with 17 points while Cole had 16 and Ivy 10.
MCC women 98, Wallace-Selma 75: Paced by Catesha Riley's 27 points, the Lady Eagles blitzed the Lady Patriots Tuesday in a 23-point win.
The Lady Eagles improved to 5-2 on the season and will return to action Monday when they travel to East Mississippi.
Despite the final margin, the game was close in the early going.
The Lady Patriots came out on fire and led 7-0 early.
From that point, MCC opened up the offense and led 59-36 at halftime.
The Lady Eagles continued the pounding in the second half as they went on a 15-4 run in the first six minutes to take a 74-40 lead. From there the Lady Eagles cruised to the win.
After Riley's 27, Angela Bullock had 16 points and Tommie Walden had 15 while Tijwana Collins had 11 and Ashley Thurman 10.
Towanna Johnson led the Lady Patriots with 16 points.
Robbie Robertson is sports editor for The Meridian Star. E-mail him at rrobertson@meridianstar.com.