ECCC men edge Mississippi Delta

Published 11:11 pm Tuesday, November 21, 2017

In a game that was tight for the entire 40 minutes of play, it just seemed right that overtime would be needed to decide the winner. 

The homestanding East Central Community College Warriors pulled out the win over the Mississippi Delta Community College Trojans 87-83 in overtime to finish up the East Central Classic. 

During a back-and forth first half, neither team was ever able to pull ahead by more than seven points. Sophomore Thurston McCarty hit a couple of early 3s to start things out for the Warriors. East Central shot its way to a 17-10 lead spurred on by sophomore Jaquan Dotson. Dotson drove to the basket to make difficult shots during back to back possessions. 

Mississippi Delta responded quickly to tie it back up at 21. The teams went back and forth for the rest of the half, with neither team ever building a lead of more than four points. The Warriors would take a 41-39 lead into intermission. 

The Trojans came out of the break hot as they hit multiple 3s to pull ahead by eight points seven minutes into the second half. After a timeout, the Warriors responded with a run of their own to cut the deficit to three with nine minutes left. 

After the Trojans extended the lead to 65-60, Warrior freshman Roti Ware scored six straight points to give the Warriors the lead at 66-65. The teams swapped baskets for the rest of the half, and the Trojans scored with 25 seconds left to tie it at 78. The Warriors were unable to get off a shot, and the game went to overtime.  

In overtime, the teams again went back and forth. The Trojans cut the Warrior lead to 84-83 with 45 seconds left. Warrior Cameron Diggs worked his way under the basket and made a difficult shot to extend the lead to 86-83. ECCC’s Tre Pinkston nailed a late free throw to put the game out of reach. 

The Warriors leading scorer was Roti Ware, who finished with 24 points. Jaquan Dotson added 19 points. The Trojans were lead in scoring by Deshaven Flowers, who had 19 points. 

With the victory, the East Central Community College Warriors improved to 4-3 on the season. The Warriors will return to action at 7 p.m. Monday, Dec. 3 as they host Southwest Mississippi Community College.