February 1, 2022
The East Central Community College Warriors fired off a 12-1 run in the final three minutes on Monday night, January 31, but it was not enough as the Co-Lin Wolves took down ECCC in Brackeen-Wood Gymanisum, 74-66. The loss dropped the Warriors to 4-11, 2-7 on the year, while the Wolves improved to 6-11, 3-6.
The game went in Co-Lin's favor from the opening tip as the Wolves were able to leap out to a 5-0 lead in the first two minutes, a lead they would let go of for the remainder of the game. The Warriors battled it out in the first half, but just could not get any shots to fall, nor did the Warriors capitalize on trips to the free-throw line. Several Co-Lin turnovers and 11 first-half offensive rebounds gave ECCC chances, but a late 7-2 run allowed the Wolves to take a 14-point, 35-21 point lead into intermission.
The second half was much of the same as the Warriors looked for baskets from all over the floor. ECCC finally found the bottom of the net from three-point range midway through the second half. Turnovers continued to haunt the Wolves and allowed ECCC to keep the contest relatively close until a 9-0 run pushed the Wolf Pack lead to a game-high 22, 63-41.
Just when ECCC seemed down and out the Warriors buckled down and attacked. In the final minutes, the Warriors finally found the hot-hand with James Granger (DeKalb) hitting back-to-back three-pointers. Anthony Richards (Jackson) followed suit with a three-pointer, and Christopher Keys (Quitman) drove to the basket after a Co-Lin turnover. The scoring flurry cut the Co-Lin lead down to just six, but some free throw shooting in the final moments pulled the game out of reach for ECCC.
Keys led ECCC with 22 points and joined David Berry (Mendenhall) in team-high rebounds with eight each. Demajion Topps (Winona) posted 14 points in the contest. Granger and Berry finished with nine points each. Co-Lin was led by a 22 point, 12 rebound double-double from Lerenzo Fort and a 15 point, 13 rebound double-double from Kareeme Davis. ECCC shot 33 percent to the Wolves' 39 percent, while both struggled with the deep ball with Co-Lin posting 25 percent to ECCC's 14 percent. Co-Lin racked up 60 rebounds to the Warriors 47 but turned the ball nearly twice with 25 turnovers to ECCC's 13.
The Warriors return to the court on Thursday, February 3, as the team travels to Scooba to take on the No. 20 East Mississippi Community College Lions (13-4, 6-2) at 6 p.m. That game can be seen live at www.EMCCAthletics.com/live.
