2006

Rules violation costs EC 4 wins From playoff contender to playing out the string. Due to a ruling at MACJC headquarters in Jackson on "My argument is the hand book that I was given to follow does not have that rule in it. I don't sec hO\\ I ran be held accountable for a lllle that .tin't in the damn handbook.~ It isn t the first time in rrcent

WEEKOF Q

Friday. the East C e ntra l Co mmunit y Coll£>ge men ·s basketball team had to forfeit

by Marty Stamper

year., EC programs have run afoul of various M\CJC rules. The baseball team suffered a multt-year ban on out-of-district signees during the final seasons of the late ]a1rue Clark. Currt'rll head baseball coach Jake Yarborough rni~ed the first 10 games of 2005 in order to keep his players from suffering the los'> of a medical hardship year And Terrence McFadden of Sunri'>t•. Fla.• didn't return to rhc footooll squad in 2005 after his eligibility was questioned following a sea– son-opening los..<; to Pearl River. "Coach (and athletics direr– tor Terry) Undemood kne\\ about the rule. but it was one of those rules that's so old that no&ody ever tlunks about it,· Hainpton said ofTurner's case. "Not only did it get past him. but it got past the MACJC office twire, in rhe fall and In the spring. "M} argument is since they said he got through the first semeste1 without gPtting caught, we didn't have to for– feit those games. but since he got caught second semester. we did (have to forfeit rhose). "He's either eligible OJ he's not eligible. so I shouldn't have to forfeit some and not forfeit some. It s a sony way to win games.~

five game:,, four of them wins, for using an ineligible player. 'Chicken manure.· Or words to that effect is how EC first-year men's head basket– ball coach Ste\ e Hampton described the eventual outcome after 6-foot-4 freshman fo r– ward Rodney Turner \'v as tw ned in b) Hinds Commumt) College for being ineligible fol– lowing the Warriors' 83-67 win at Hinds on Jan. 19. I urner scored eight points in the win. The rule that EC \"iolated may be hard to find. especially for coache!> '' ho haven· t bern in the league long and don 't ha\·e old MACJC handbooks handv. "Hinds challenged the eH– gibilit'. of Rodnev TumPr, who graduated from Forest Hill (which is in Hinds' district) in 1999.~ Hampton said. "Back in 1999. they said !here was a rule before the protection list rule came into effecr in 2001 that said he \'vo') au£Ontaucally pro– tected. Therefore. he needed a release from Hinds and Hinds said rhev never released him Titerefore. rhejunior college ass() iat "'1 ruled him ineligible.

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LAKE MESSENGER _____________ SCOTI COUNTY TIMES --- - ----- UNION APPEAL ~ WINSTON COUNTY JOURNAL _______ SPIRIT OF MORTON------- ------ IMPACT ________________

CARTHAGINIAN---------- NESHOBADEMOCRAT _____ _ NEWTON RECORD ------ -- MERIDIAN STAR _ __:,________ CLARION-LEDGER---------