1991

1\l:.l:l\ OF

ECCC WafriOrs may have the DECATUR- East Central

week for us because we go to Hinds and we've got Gulf Coast com ing in her e Thursday, " second-year coach Jay Bowen said. "It's a key for us. If we could take a split right now, I'd skip those two games and go to next week." Bowen has blended a mixture of local talent with out-of-staters into the highly-competitive ballclub. The locals include Louisville's Tyrone Bender, Phila del~: ·" ':; Vandy Hopson and Mark Stri– bling, South Leake's Kevin Ken– nedy and Luther Riley, Marvin Nash of Carthage, Tyrone Stowers of Scott Central, Terry Thames of Beulah Hubbard, and J.P. Viv– erette ofSebastopol.

Community College's men's ba– sketball team used to be the one other teams pointed to with delight. If the opponents were doing good, a 100-point clocking might be the order of the day. If a team was doing bad, ECCC was the team they could break out of their doldrums against. Those memories grow fainter and fainter with each game of the 1990-91 season. Heading into to– night's game at Hinds, ECCC is 14-3 overall and second in the MJCA South Division at 4-1. Against Region 23 competition, l.he Warriors are 9-2. When the Warriors have lost this year, it's been to quality op-

Marty Stamper Sports writer

position. There was an 87-82 de– feat to 20th-ranked Faulkner (Ala.) State here on Nov. 10, an 88-78 loss at Northeast on Nov. 20, and an 89-72 loss at 19th– ranked Gulf Coast on Dec. 3. Faulkner and Gulf Coast are 17-2, while Northeast is 13-2. "This is going to be a good

last laugh in juco circles Hopson, Riley, Stowers, and V1ve rette are all former high school all-stars.

Not only are the Warriors play– mg all 13 team members, they're playing the game at a pace people enjoy watcing. ECCC is averaging 90.3 points, while allowing77.4. "One ofour goals from the very beginning of the year was to finish in the top l.hree (in the South Divi– sion) and make it to the Region 23 Tournament," Bowen added. "Our sophomores have been through a lot. They went through the bad times last year (9-15) and now they're hitting on some good times. They came here with one goal in mind and that was to help turn around East Central's prog– ram. They've done it. I think l.hey're playing well." It's no secret that Bowen would

one aay hke to coach at a major four-year school. Who wouldn't? But recent NCAA legislation cut– ting back on the number of assis– tant coaches may keep him at ECCC for several years. That suits Bowen just fme. ••.J he'Jumor college jobs in MJS– sissippi and here at East Central are among the best jobs in the country," Bowen said. "With the NCAA cutbacks, there's going to be a lot of people wanting these jobs. We're happy here. I think we've got our program established now. I think we've got the prog– ram on its way. It's not where we want it to be, but we're improving each game out and each season out and that's what we want to do."

From beyond Mississippi's bor– ders come Ton} Bailey of Villa Rica, Ga.; Charhe Donnerson and Eric Mays of Gosnell, Ark.; and Michael James ofGary, Ind. "We've got a good mixture of not only sophomores (seven) and fres hmen (six), but also in-state and out-of-state," Bowen :;aid. "E very on e of them is contributing." Stowers has signed with Li– vingston University, while James has inked with Georgia State. Donnerson and Mays were high school teammates of Ole Miss' Joe Harvell, while Bailey is a cou– sin ofOle Miss' James Bailey.

APPE.-\ RE::> ::\ :

C.-\R r~.-\G: ~: ,.,______________ ..!:::!_~~-----~~----__j ~lOR. ~~ :RIP :..rESHOE.-\ DE.\ \EinO.\ :\E~C CL.-\ R~O.\ - ;_~:\.J-!'i.