By By Richard Dark/The Meridian Star
Feb. 9, 2001
SCOOBA With five minutes left to play in the game, the East Mississippi Community College Lions led the Holmes Community College Bulldogs by nine, no small feat considering the Lions were outscored 20-0 to start the contest.
But the Bulldogs pulled themselves up by their bootstraps and outscored the hosts 16-2 the rest of the way to snap a six-game East Mississippi winning streak, 61-56.
At the 8:47 mark of the first half, the Lions finally made a dent in the scoreboard on a pair of free throws by Dennis Williams. The Lions forged 11 more points in the half at the charity stripe as they only made two field goals the entire frame. Only a tough shooting spell by the Bulldogs (12-10, 6-4 in the North Division) kept EMCC in it.
Holmes went nearly four minutes without scoring to allow the Lions (12-9, 7-3) to creep to within 10 at the break.
In the second half, it seemed as if a different Lion team came out of the locker room, as baskets by McKenzie Lash and Reshard Alonza, who finished with eight and seven, respectively, got EMCC to within five just over four minutes in.
Ryan Rodriguez also got hot during that span, scoring four of his 11, including a steal and a layup to inch the Lions to within 39-38 at the 11:18 mark.
Marcus Randle's 3-pointer at the 10:42 mark of the game gave EMCC its first lead of the night at 41-39. It then became a see-saw affair for the next three minutes until Rodriguez' pull-up jumper sparked the 9-0 run that was capped with a Williams stickback at the 5:04 mark. Williams finished the night with 15 points.
The spurt was fueled by a pair of technical fouls on Holmes players who were protesting non-calls in the extremely physical contest.
It was then, however, that the Bulldogs rose up, nailing threes and tough runners in the lane.
After a HCC steal, Issac Greenwood, who paced his team with 15 points, was hacked by a Lion underneath and made his first free-throw to tie the game. Greenwood clanked the second and Jonathan Asuzu stuck it back in for the 58-56 lead with 1:09 to go. With 23.3 ticks left, Randle had a chance to tie the game, but missed both freebies and Scooba was forced to foul.
Afterwards, Holmes head coach Todd Kimble was in a state of amazement.
Holmes women 72, EMCC 62: The Lady Lions came up short in the search for their elusive win, as they played the Lady Bulldogs to a 32-32 tie in the first half, and couldn't hold a small lead in the second.
As if things weren't bad enough for Dale Peay's squad this season, the Lady Lions lost starting point guard Kelli Glenn in the first half of the game to as torn anterior cruciate ligament.
EMCC's women are now down to seven healthy bodies after starting the season with 14. And the lack of depth may have hurt them down the stretch, a HCC was quicker to the ball and crisper with the shooting touch.
After Kenyetta Moore, who scored 12, drew the Lady Lions to within 48-47 at the 11:00 mark, the Lady Bulldogs got a pair of 3-pointers from Tasha Sumerall, who ended the night with a blistering 27.
EMCC never got closer than five points the remainder of the game.
Kim Davis poured in 23 and Donna Franklin added 12 for EMCC, who will host Coahoma, their only victim this season, on Monday night. Gala Jones came through with 14 for the Lady Bulldogs, while Roshanda Kilbert added 11.
Richard Dark is a sports writer for The Meridian Star. E-mail him at rdark@themeridianstar.com.