Lions suffer narrow 73-70 setback at Southwest with bizarre ending

SUMMIT – In makeup hoops action from a postponement earlier in the week due to wintry weather in the southern part of the state, the visiting East Mississippi Community College basketball teams dropped an MACCC doubleheader Saturday night at Southwest Mississippi. After the EMCC women fell 83-57 to the Lady Bears in the opener, the Lions finished on the short end of a hard-luck 73-70 decision in the men's nightcap played at the Bear Basketball Center.

In the men's nightcap, the Lions and Bears battled through three early deadlocks before the visitors went on a 15-6 run to take a 29-20 advantage with 5:12 remaining in the opening half.

After trimming EMCC's lead to 35-31 by halftime, Southwest outscored the Lions 11-5 in the opening six minutes of the second stanza to reclaim the lead at 42-40.

Following two more lead changes, EMCC's Jonathan Baker scored on consecutive runs to the rim to put the Lions back on top by four points (48-44). The Bears countered with eight unanswered points, including a pair of 3-pointers, to give Southwest a 52-48 lead at the midway point of the half.

A pair of 3-point plays and a driving basket by EMCC's DeAndre Lewis knotted the score at 56-56 with 7:41 left in the game. Southwest standout forward Tylik Weeks countered with a basket and two made free throws to put the Bears in front for good.

Southwest's lead increased to six points (69-63) before Brian Kitenge's pair of dunks cut the deficit to a basket (69-67) with 42.4 seconds remaining. Baker's clutch made trey further trimmed the margin to a single point (71-70) with 18.8 seconds left and EMCC having used its final timeout of the game.

The game's bizarre conclusion began with 11.8 ticks remaining in regulation when Weeks was fouled and sent to the charity stripe. Southwest's second straight missed one-and-one opportunity from the line was collected by Kitenge, but the Lions mistakenly called for a timeout they did not have. Both ends of the resulting two-shot technical foul were converted by the Bears' Fazl Oshodi to extend the margin to three points. After SMCC utilized its final two team timeouts to give and leaving EMCC just 5.2 seconds on the game clock, Baker's hurried 3-point attempt banged off the backboard as the final buzzer sounded.

Baker paced a quartet of double-figure EMCC scorers with 17 points, including a dozen second-half points. DeAndre Lewis followed with 14 points (11 after halftime), and Jermaurhiyun Anderson added 10 points for the Lions (8-11, 2-2 MACCC). Kitenge recorded his second double-double of the season with 13 points and a season-high 15 rebounds.

Without starters Je'Niecia Hill and Dukiaha Jones for the second straight game, the Lady Lions grabbed their only lead of the game (11-10) on Kennedi Wagner's 3-pointer late in the opening quarter. From there, Southwest's Kara Beth Addision countered with a 3-point play and a baseline jumper to reclaim a lead for the Lady Bears that they would not relinquish the rest of the game.

After leading 15-11 following one quarter of play, Southwest moved ahead by double digits (24-14) on Moosie Walls' putback basket. Zarria Shipp helped keep EMCC within reach by connecting on a pair of 3-pointers and scoring on a baseline drive over the final five minutes of the opening half.

Shalea Boddie helped keep the visitors in the mix by scoring six straight points midway through the third quarter, but the home-standing Lady Bears answered with a 12-2 spurt that extended a 13-point advantage to 60-37 late in the quarter. Southwest then outscored EMCC 19-11 during the final quarter to pull away with the 26-point victory.

Shipp finished with a season-high 13 points for the Lady Lions (6-10, 1-3 MACCC), while Boddie scored all 10 of her points following halftime. Leah Wilcher added eight points and eight rebounds for the visitors.

The East Mississippi basketball teams return to the hardwood on Thursday (Jan. 30) when they travel to Goodman to take on the Holmes Bulldogs.