from school reports
The Meridian Star
SCOOBA — East Mississippi Community College’s first-ever appearance in the NJCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Championship will come against Brunswick Community College (N.C.) on Tuesday in Hutchinson, Kan. Tipoff for EMCC’s tournament opener is set for 2 p.m. at the 7,600-seat Hutchinson Sports Arena.
The winner of the EMCC-BCC first-round contest will advance to meet the winner of the contest between Navarro College (Texas) and Middle Georgia College in Wednesday’s quarterfinals of the championship bracket at 8 p.m. The loser of the two games will meet in Thursday’s consolation bracket at 10 a.m.
Next week’s five-day NJCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Championship runs through Saturday’s finals of both the championship and consolation brackets. All 26 games of the double-elimination tournament are slated to be streamed live and will be available to view via archive at www.njcaa.org/tv.
Coach Mark White’s 26-5 Lions are the District 15 representatives after claiming the Region 23 Tournament title last week on the Mississippi College campus in Clinton.
Rebounding from a 61-58 loss to 25th-ranked Pearl River in the championship game of the MACJC state tournament, the 12th-ranked Lions knocked off Northeast Mississippi, Hinds and Itawamba on successive nights to capture the regional title. In addition to the team’s state runner-up finish, this year’s squad also claimed a school-first MACJC North Division regular-season men’s crown with a 10-2 league mark.
Positioned midway between Wilmington, N.C., and North Myrtle Beach, S.C., Brunswick Community College is located in Supply, N.C. Members of the Carolinas Junior College Conference, the BCC Dolphins punched their ticket to next week’s tournament by posting a 78-72 victory against Clinton Junior College (S.C.) in the championship game of the NJCAA Region 10 Tournament. Guided by head coach Walter Shaw, Brunswick owns an overall record of 23-10.
A 20-year coaching veteran, EMCC’s White will be making his third visit to Hutchinson for the men’s national tournament, though this year will mark his first duty as a head coach.
He previously served as an assistant coach on North Idaho College’s team that placed fourth in the 1997 tournament, while also accompanying the Wabash Valley College (Ill.) club that went 1-2 in Kansas in 1993. A native of Russellville, Ky., White also was a part of Mississippi State teams that made three consecutive NCAA Tournament appearances and an NIT semifinal-round showing during his five-year (2003-07) coaching stint with the Bulldogs.
With four of the 16 tournament teams still to be decided for next week’s tournament, other schools that have already qualified for the tournament include: Connors State College (Okla.), Monroe College (N.Y.), Howard College (Texas), Butler CC (Kan.), Walters State CC (Tenn.), Northwest Florida State College, Wallace State-Hanceville (Ala.), and Southeastern Illinois College.
Tournament information, including ticket prices and game updates, will be available online throughout the tournament by accessing www.njcaabbtrny.org.
