February 2, 2021
It was tied up at the break in Ellisville on Monday night, Feb. 1, but the Jones College Bobcats squeezed out a 75-71 home victory over the East Central Warriors in the third contest of the year. The loss moves the Warriors to 0-3 on the season and improves the Bobcats 1-2.
The Warriors took an early lead with a 9-2 run off three straight three-pointers, one from Demajion Topps (Winona) and a pair from Devin Carter (Louisville). The burst of offense put ECCC on top 15-7 in the first five minutes of play. The Warriors hung on to that lead until the seven-minute mark when the Bobcats knotted the game at 22-all. For the remainder of the half scrappy, hard-nosed basketball kept the game close before going into the locker room at 36-36.
Two early three-pointers from the Bobcats in the second half pushed them into the lead. East Central refused to let up and kept the lead under five points before firing off an 8-2 run with baskets from Carter, Darien Newchurch (Jackson), and Matthew Mackey (Flowood). With just under eight minutes remaining, the Warriors were on top, 57-54, after the run.
Jones hit back over the final stretch of the game and erased that lead with solid free-throw shooting and a big three-pointer from Tradavis Thompson with four minutes remaining. ECCC's Carter cut the lead to just one, 66-65, in the final three minutes with one of his five three-pointers, but it was not enough as the Bobcats held the Warriors at bay to secure the 75-71 win.
Four Warriors posted double-digits in the scoring column with Carter's 20 leading the way on 5-of-12 shooting from beyond the arc. Topps finished with 17 points and five assists, while Newchurch posted 16 points. Timothy McElroy (DeKalb) added 11 points and led the Warriors on the glass with seven rebounds. Jeff Blackmon led Jones College with 22 points, while Cowandric Samuel posted nine boards.
The Warriors are back in Brackeen-Wood Gymnasium on Thursday, February 4 as the Meridian Eagles (1-2) come to town for a 6 p.m. tip. The Eagles took the No. 5 Pearl River Wildcats to the wire on Monday night, but the Wildcats won in overtime, 69-66. Fans can watch Thursday night's game at eccclive.com/gold.
