2003

Southwest drop ECCC tWi ce By Marty Stamper EMG sports assistant

DECATUR- Any time a team fails to take advantage of its opportunities, it's asking to come out on the wrong end uf the scort~. East Central Community College found that out the hard way twice Monday night as the LadyWarriors lost 71- 64 to Southwest Mississippi and the Warriors fell 71-67 to the Bears. ECCC returns to action Thursday night at Meridian ECCC 67 The Warriors led by as many as seven points (29-22) in a sloppily-played first half before taking a 33-32 lead into halftime. ECCC then managed only four points over the first seven minutes of lhe second half as the Bears eased oullo a 42-37lead. After five lead changes, Southwest took Ute lead at 5&-54 with 7:47 remaining on a 3-pointer from B.J. Griffin. ECCC then missed a pair of free throws, two 3-pointers, and were l'alled for a charging foul on its next three pos sessions. Corey Hornsby pulled Ute Warriors even at 56-56 with a pair of free throws with 4:25 left, but Southwest's josh Matthews buried a 3-pointer with 3:55 to go to put thl· Bears up fl0-56. Marcus Elliot, a freshman from Fort Walton Beach. Fla.. then hit 5-of-6 free throws to give the Bears a 69-61 advantage with only 30.8 seconds left. ECCC got a 3 pointer apiece from jamaal Martin and Demario Qualls, but was unable to get dost'r than four points. "We just didn't haven good night," ECCC ht:ad co;u:h Bill Sn1ith said. "Wt· wt•n: all off. Wt: t'ollldn't c:vt•r gd ovPr the hump. \Ye' and got ah(•I s dt'h, "When you lt•t snrsu:hndy hang around, ;usythin}~ l'HII huppt•u." ·· ECCC (1-\-!i uvt:rall. ~- l Sou th l>ivi~ion) got 1·1 poiul s 'fromllornshy, 12 fro111 f\.larlin. anclll ln1111 ·<1u11ll s. SouthWt'SI (!i.!J, 1·2) got IH ()()I Ills apit't'e from nriCllll and Elliott and Hi from Nil: (;amhl<' Southwest women 71 ECCC 64 The Lady Warriors trailed 34-:n at halftime as the Lady Bears got 18 first·half points from Nakeya Downing. Community College. Southwest men 71

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PHOTO BY PAULA MERRITT / lltE III£RIDIAH STAR f)

NO STEAL HERE

East Central's Dewayne HuQhes attempts a steal against Southwest's Travis Ball.