Hurricane-Strength Contests Open CCC Basketball

5/16/13

CLARKSDALE – Opening basketball season with hurricane-strength contests, Coahoma’s Tigers defeated East Central’s Warriors 77-71 while the Lady Tigers were one point short behind the Lady Warrior 55-54 victory.

“I’m disappointed we let this slip away and didn’t win, but I can’t get upset; they played hard and will bounce back,“ commented CCC women’s coach Lacole Brooks following the game.

Coach Ira Peterson said he was pleased with the Tiger win despite the inexperience of many of his sophomores and East Central’s late rally cutting their deficit from 13 points (60-47) to one point (72-71) with less than a minute remaining.

In the first game, CCC’s women lagged behind 15 points (27-12) in the first three minutes of play before Shyvuna Johnson of Clarksdale nailed a triple to kick- start Nekeia Evans of Paynesville, Ohio, and Bridgette Griffin of Lambert into scoring action.

At halftime, the Lady Warriors were ahead 29-21.

With Johnson and company hitting another triple, a steal and score by Jasmine Brown of Jackson gave Coahoma its first lead 34-33 until EC’s Jaianah Matthew slammed down three consecutive triples.

Scoring by both teams was brisk, and the hometown crowd got into action when Griffin’s layup tied at 48 points plus two more go-ahead points.

Xzandra Dowd and Reneisha Evans pushed EC’s lead to 55-51 with 2:57 remaining when CCC’s Johnson sank another trey, and the score was 55-54 with seconds left.

Leading the scoring for Coahoma was Johnson with 15 points; Griffin with 13; Breanna Wiley and Nekeiai Evens with 8 each; Shani Brooks, 6; and Antoinette Mayfield, 4.

Scoring for East Central were Jaina Matthew, 18 points; Jakel Johnson, 11; Xzandra Dowd, 9; Reneish Evans, 7; Niya Hughes, 4; Nakia Miller, 2; Taylor Brister, 2; and Tynesia Mickens, 2.

Scoring rocked along routinely in the second game with CCC’s Patrick Brown sinking a triple to tie at 9; EC scoring 9 additional points plus a trey by Hakeem Wesley to go out front 21-14.

Baskets by Tigers Norris Adams , Stacy Regular and a triple by Alex Thompson reduced CCC’s deficit 31-25 with four minutes remaining in the first half, and additional scores by Rigueson Desorvil and Jonathan Ankston upped Coahoma’s score to 34 behind EC’s 35 at the half.

In the second half, the Tigers jumped out front and never looked back following a pass from Regular to Ankston for a basket (36-35) accelerating to an alley-oop from Brown to Thompson (44-39) followed by a triple by Brown (47-39) another triple by Regular (50-41) and chants, “Let’s Go Tigers” from the crowd.

The Warriors rallied but fell short.

Scoring for Coahoma were Alex Thompson and Rigues Desorvil, both with 15 points; Patrick Brown, 12; Telvin Askew, 8; Jonathan Ankston and Stacy Regular, 7 each; Morris Adams, 4; Xavier Graves, 3; Charles Nash, 2; Alan Morris, 2; and LilRoy Maxie, 2.

Scoring for East Central were Hakee Wesley, 24; Aquill Baynard, 15; Walter Evans, 8; Akeem Toppin, 7; Demarc Clayton, 5; Chris Rhoney 4; Ja Eichelberger, 4; Bobby Wrench, 3; and Te Leatherwood, 1.