1989

East Central wins twice over EMCC By George Miller Sports writer DECATUR- Jay Bowen's ;East Central Warriors overcame freshman tendencies and dropped East Mississippi 82-75 Saturday night. Sammy Pace's Lady Warriors remained unbeaten, 7-0, with an 87-71 victory over EMCC's Lady Lions in the session's opener. The Warriors walked away with the win by taking advantage of the free-throw line. East Central pitched in 28-of-35 from the charity stripe, while East Mississippi hit 14-of-25. The 14-point free throw differential offset the Warriors' 7-point winning edge. The War– riors hit 17 freebies in the second half to im– prove a 31-30 halftime advantage. With 16:41left in the game and East Cen– tral holding a 37-34 edge, the Lions' bench was hit with a technical foul. The Warriors moved to a 41-34 lead, but with 13:12 left, EMCC's Eric Hopgood hit a layup to cut ECCC's lead to 45-44. Moments later, Hopgood drove the baseline again and hit an apparent basket and drew a foul. The official ruled charging and the score remained 45-44. From that point, the Warriors moved to a >7-47 lead with 9:39 left. ECCC led by 10 points again, 61-51,63-53, 67-57 and 76-66 (with 1:25 left) . Hopgood swished in his fifth 3-pointer of the .game with 1:09 left and Tyrone Arrington followed with a bucket to cut the lead to 76-71 with 57 seconds left. Arrington and Hopgood added baskets as time was running out, but eight-straight free throws offset the effort to

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Special photo by Paula Merritt ECCC's Shontel Lowe takes aim at the basket with pressure from a defender rally.

In the final four minutes, ECCC improved from a 74-62 lead to an 87-67 margin with 31 seconds left. Trina Shelton and Necole E llis hit for the Lady Lions in the las t 31 seconds. Shontel Low led ECCCwith 18 points, while Carol Boatman, P aula Nash and Sadie Triplett each added 12 points. "Physically we got tired," Lady Lions' coach Dale Peay said. "We stayed in a 2-point game with 10 minutes left, but their depth made the difference." Ellis paced EMCC with 22 points as Kim Derden followed with 13 and Lanita Yar– borough with 9. EMCC's Lady Lions, 2-4, will take on Lawson State m Birmingham Tuesday at 5:30 p.m., while the Lions visit Souther n Junior College in Birmingham Tuesday, also at 5:30. ECCC's Lady Warriors will see action next on Nov. 29 when they host P a trick Henry Junior College. The Warriors will engage ac– tion in the Jones County Junior College Mens Tournament in Ellisville Monday a nd Tuesday.

"They just shot the ball well and they played harder than we did," Lions' coach John Stroud said. "We cut their lead to one and the official blew the call. I think that was the turning point." Hopgood led the EMCC scoring with 23 points as Arrington followed with 17. Robert Byrd added 10 and Jerald Summerhill 9. "They (ECCC) would get up 10 or 12 and let them get back in it," Bowen said. "That's the freshmen in them. We would throw the ball ~way and never put them away." Travis Watkins led ECCC with 17 points as Michael James had 16. Eric Mays added 15 while Kelvin Young and Mark Gates each had 13. ECCC WOMEN 87, EMCC 71: A change of strategy and superior bench strength keyed the Lady Warriors over the Lady Lions after trailing 37-33 at intermission. "We changed our offense from a man of– fense to a zone and against their man-to-man defense, it worked," Pace said. "Our depth had to help as we kept switching people on their guards."

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