Lions drop 57-51 road decision to Shelton State

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. – The East Mississippi Community College men's basketball team let an eight-point, first-half lead slip away during a hard-fought 57-51 road loss to Shelton State, while the EMCC women dropped an 84-48 decision to the nationally seventh-ranked SSCC Lady Bucs during Thursday's hoops doubleheader played at the Umphrey Center.

Late in the opening half of the men's nightcap, Brian Kitenge's dunk on a pass from Jonathan Baker sparked an 8-0 EMCC run that gave the Lions a 31-23 lead with five minutes remaining in the half. The home-standing Bucs responded with consecutive made three-pointers by Kuron Coleman, who would again prove instrumental for Shelton State during the game's final moments.

Though the visitors held the advantage for a majority of the first half, the opening 20 minutes of men's action resulted in a 36-36 deadlock following a trey by Shelton State's DJ Hamlett with 40 seconds left and some untimely turnovers by EMCC down the stretch heading to the break.

The two teams battled to two more ties during the first 11 minutes of the second stanza before Shelton State earned a little separation by scoring six straight points to take a 48-42 lead. Though they could not reclaim the lead, the Lions did manage to cut the deficit to two points on three different occasions heading down the game's homestretch.

After DeAndre Lewis' runner through the lane cut Shelton State's lead to 52-50 with 3:22 left, neither team scored until the Bucs converted on a runout basket by Troy Dunn on an outlet feed from Nazir Griffin at the 1:30 mark.

The Lions made it a one-possession game when Jermaurhiyun Anderson split a pair of free throws to make it a 54-51 contest with 57.1 seconds remaining. Shelton State was able to stretch its final possession when Griffin was fouled with five seconds left on the shot clock to reset the clock at 20 seconds. Coleman then supplied the dagger for the Bucs by drilling his fourth three-pointer of the game with 11.4 ticks left on the game clock to account for the six-point outcome.

Though he struggled with 4-of-18 shooting from the field, Anderson led EMCC by posting his first collegiate double-double with a team-high 13 points and 12 rebounds. DeAndre Lewis added 10 points and eight boards for the Lions.

Coleman finished with a game-high 15 points for Shelton State. Hasani Rivera was solid in the post with 14 points and 11 rebounds, while Griffin added 13 points, six assists and six rebounds for the Bucs.

In the women's opener, the Lady Lions kept the margin to within single digits for a majority of the opening half of play. After Leah Wilcher's put-back basket cut EMCC's deficit to seven points (28-21) late in the half, the Lady Bucs scored six unanswered points to grab a 34-21 halftime lead.

Shelton State's advantage grew to 28 points (59-31) after outscoring EMCC, 25-10, during the third quarter. The margin lengthened to as many as 38 points late in the contest as the Lady Bucs put together a second straight 25-point quarter.

With 18 and 14 points, respectively, Kennedi Wagner (18) and Wilcher (14) combined for 32 of EMCC's 48 total points. Wilcher also added eight rebounds for the Lady Lions.

Julie Nekolna's game-high 24 points paced a quartet of double-digit Shelton State scorers. Alana Obianozie's 13 points were followed by 11 points apiece from Makala Hobdy and Arissa Jenkins.

East Mississippi's basketball teams will return to home action for the first time since Nov. 14 when they play host to MACCC foe Holmes Community College in non-conference action on Monday (Dec. 9). A 5:30 p.m. women's game will be followed by a 7:30 p.m. men's contest at EMCC's Keyes T. Currie Coliseum.