Balanced scoring keys EMCC to 84-77 home win over Delta; Lady Lions fall 54-47 to Lady Trojans
Published 3:33 pm Monday, February 16, 2026
SCOOBA – Balanced scoring paced the East Mississippi Community College men’s basketball team to a second straight conference victory with an 84-77 home win over Mississippi Delta during Thursday’s MACCC hoops action played at Keyes T. Currie Coliseum. The home-standing Lady Lions dropped a hard-fought 54-47 decision to the Lady Trojans in the women’s contest to begin the doubleheader.
The men’s nightcap featured six lead changes and five ties during the opening half of play. After the visiting Trojans jumped out to an early 14-6 lead, Jayden Tatum’s back-to-back treys sparked a 12-0 EMCC run that gave the Lions some initial momentum.
Later in the half, the two teams traded baskets for four consecutive lead changes until Antron Mason II keyed a 7-0 Delta rally to give the visitors a 31-25 lead. EMCC’s Josh Brown answered with a three-pointer that capped his 11-point, opening-half effort to halt the run with three minutes remaining in the first half.
With the game knotted at 35-35 at the half, the Trojans went up by five points early in the second stanza. Five more lead changes after intermission led to the half’s only tie (52-52) with 13 minutes left in the contest. Consecutive baskets by Tatum and Jace O’Neal gave the Lions a late-game lead they would not relinquish, as they went on a 14-4 spurt to build a 10-point advantage (66-56) with eight minutes left.
The Trojans would not go down quietly with Jeremiah Bolton hitting a pair of three-pointers down the stretch to keep the visitors within range. After Delta pulled to within three points (70-67), EMCC’s DeAndre Lewis began to take over the game during crunch time. The reigning honorable mention All-MACCC swingman scored nine of his 15 second-half points over the game’s last four minutes on his way to scoring a game-high 20 points. He was 8-of-9 from the free throw line during the final stretch to cap an 11-of-12 effort from the charity stripe on the night.
Also scoring in double figures for the Lions were Brown (17), Maurice Henderson (13), Tatum (10) and O’Neal (10). Ace McKinnie added nine points and six rebounds for the winners, who improved to 14-12 overall and 4-6 within the MACCC.
The women’s contest stayed to within a single-digit margin throughout the entire 40 minutes of play. Following a couple of early ties, the Lady Trojans owned a slim 11-10 edge at the initial quarter break before building a 26-17 lead late in the opening half.
The home-standing Lady Lions (5-17, 2-8 MACCC) spent the third quarter chipping away at Delta’s lead before Micaiah Satcher’s three-point basket late in the quarter gave EMCC its first lead (39-38) since the score was 6-4 during the game’s opening minutes.
The final quarter of play featured three ties and three lead changes through the first seven minutes. The Lady Lions looked to have the momentum when Dukiaha Jones’ three-point play was followed by a subsequent 10-second backcourt violation called on Delta at the 2:46 mark.
The game’s final stretch belonged to the Lady Trojans, however, as they held EMCC scoreless for the remainder of the contest in pulling away with the seven-point road victory.
Jones and Satcher led the EMCC women with 16 and 12 points, respectively. Ariana Crimm followed with 11 points on 4-of-5 shooting from the field in the second half.
The East Mississippi basketball teams have an open game date to begin the week before heading to Goodman to take on the Holmes Bulldogs on Thursday.
