MCC Beat Rival ECCC, Ladies Lose In OT

Jeff Edwards
The Meridian Star


Meridian men 100
East Central men 85

The Meridian Eagles almost let a huge first half lead slip away and made sure they wouldn’t do the same thing in the second half against East Central.

The Eagles led by as much as 17 points in the first half, but saw ECCC go on a run to cut the lead to 45-40 at halftime.

If the Eagles were taken aback by the Warrior run, they didn’t show it. MCC came out of the locker room and scored the first 10 points of the second half to stretch their lead back out again.

“We kept our concentration and came out determined,” MCC coach George Brooks said. “We’ve let a couple of games slip away from us this year and didn’t want to let that happen this time.”

Meridian led by as many as 22 points in the second half before the Warriors went on a 16-2 run of their own to cut the lead to 80-72 with 7:35 left.

However, the Eagles were able to regain their composure and outscored East Central 20-13 the remainder of the game.

MCC (4-9, 1-1) had six different players in double-figures, led by Regis Huddleston with 19 points. Keith James was close behind with 16 while Chris Leggett scored 15 and Maurice Naylor had 14. Also in double-figures was Dexter Leflore with 12 and Mike Strickland with 11.

ECCC was led by Earnesto Green with 20 points while Marquis Wilson scored 16 and Brandon Shelton chipped in with 11.


MCC women 86
ECCC women 95 (ot)

The layup line is always a warmup tradition before basketball games. Teams usually saunder through the drill lackadaisically, seemingly never believing that a game might come down to that simple shot.

However, the Meridian Community College Lady Eagles might work even harder on that drill from now on after a missed layup cost them a win over East Central and led to a 95-86 overtime defeat.

With the score tied at 82 and time ticking down, East Central missed a shot that led to a MCC breakaway. Jennifer Wair put up an uncontested layup with two seconds left that tantalizingly hung on the rim before falling off as the buzzer sounded, sending the game into overtime.

“It’s just one of those things,” East Central coach Billy Smith said. “She’ll make that shot nine out of 10 times. We went from a sure loss to a chance to win and the girls took advantage of that opportunity.”

The lost chance at victory seemed to take the wind out of the Lady Eagles’ sails in the overtime period, as they were outscored 13-4 in the extra frame. MCC tied the score at 86 with 3:20 left, but ECCC scored the final nine points of the game to take the win.

“(The missed layup) probably did play a factor (in the overtime session),” MCC coach Hilary Allen said. “A two-foot shot in practice is a lot different than in a pressure-packed game with 500 fans screaming.”

The Lady Eagles didn’t look like they would even be in a position to win the game after trailing the entire first half.

MCC was powerless to stop the Lady Warrior offensive assault, and when East Central’s Andrea Dubose hit a three-pointer at the first half buzzer, the Lady Eagles found themselves down 53-42 at the break.

However, the second half was a different story. The Lady Eagles went on a 14-2 run that was capped by a NaDisha Strickland basket to take a 59-57 lead just 4:10 into the second half. The game remained tight from that point forward, with MCC never holding a lead of more than two points and ECCC never holding more than a four-point lead.

Meridian took a lead when Holly Dial nailed a three with 2:28 left to put the Lady Eagles up 80-78. East Central’s Valarie Harris would tie the score with basket with 1:40 remaining. Harris led all scorers with 32 points.

MCC took their final lead of the night with 1:10 remaining on a Hilal Yildrim basket but the Lady Warriors would set up the final second dramatics when Tawaytha Evans hit a basket with 45 seconds left that tied the score at 82.

The loss, which dropped MCC to 8-5 and 1-1 in conference play, left Allen shaking his head at what might have been.

“This was a conference game at home,” Allen said. “Those are the games you’ve got to win if you want to make the playoffs. Losing tonight was a huge blow.”

In addition to Harris’ 32, the Lady Warriors, who improved their record to 9-3 overall and 1-1 in the conference, were led by Tanesha Brown with 20 and Evans with 11. MCC was led by Strickland with 18 points, Anesia McBride with 14 and Dial with 13, all in the second half. Wair and Yildrim scored 11 each for MCC.