2011

McPhearson, Walker lead No. 7 Lions past Warriors By Jamie Wachter 1wachte . th :flanstar.com CLINTON- With their top three scorers held in check. the East Mississippi Community College Lions had to find a new option Monday. En·.t:'r ":'r-:.darius McPhear~on. Aver– aging just3.9 point per game. the freshman poured in a game-high 20 to lead No.7 EMCC past East Central81-74 in the first round of lhe NJCAA Region 23 tourna– ment at A.E. Wood Coliseum on the Missis– sippi College campus. McPhearson had scored in double fig– ures just twice all season, including his previous season-high of 14 against the War– riors last week in the MACJC state tourna– ment. But in the fourth meeting between the two rivals- all won by EMCC- McP– hearson came up even bigger. Coming off the bench, the 6-foot-1 guard scored 11 points in lhe first half to help EMCC (22-4) grab a 42-34 lead despite lim– ited production from sophomores Deonte Alexander and Jonathan King and freshman point D.]. Evans. The trio, who average 43.6 points, mustered just eight points in the first half- all coming in the first five minutes. "Yeah, we really held Deonte, DJ and Jonathan in check but those other guys got some buckets in the first half and they were able to build on that," East Central coach Marcus Bowie said as his Warriors finish 13-12. "We did a better job on DJ and Deonte. They really did a good job the first three games, controlling the pace of the game and ge~ting into situations. We really played those guys hard man-to-man, and made other guys make plays. "Those other guys stepped up and made critical plays and made critical shots." After the early barrage from the Lions' usual suspects, it was McPhearson who helped EMCC take control. His 3-pointer with 14:18 remaining in the opening half gave the Lions the lead for good at 15-12. With four minutes left before the break, he drained another 3 that pushed EMCC's lead to 35-24. "He played super," EMCC coach Mark White added. With McPhearson, who also had five assists and three steals, picking up the slack, Meridian High product Donovan Walker was doing his part in slicing through the ECCC defense. The sopho– more forward scored 11 of his 18 in the first half, routinely getting into the lane and to the free throw line. He hit 10 of 12 free throws in the game. "That's what he did and he made two free throws down the stretch to put it See EMCC on page 82

• Paula Merritt 1 The Merldlen Ster East Mississippi Community College's Tradarius McPhearson gets sandwiched by a pair of East Central defenders Monday at Mississippi College in Clinton.