The East Central Community College Warriors got 20 points from freshman guard Kareem Thompson and 18 from sophomore forward JaQuarius Smith to earn a hard-fought 79-76 overtime win and season sweep over the Copiah-Lincoln Wolves Thursday, Feb. 6, in Brackeen-Wood Gym on the campus in Decatur. The Co-Lin Lady Wolves prevailed over the cold shooting Lady Warriors 62-44 in the women's game.
The men's contest was close throughout before East Central built a 62-54 lead with less than four minutes to play. Co-Lin chipped away at the lead and finally knotted the game at 67-67 with a three-pointer with 10 seconds to play to send the game to overtime.
East Central would outscore Co-Lin 12-9 in the extra period for the win.
The Warriors also beat Co-Lin 73-71 back on Jan. 13 in Wesson.
Thompson (Florence, Ala.) pulled down seven rebounds for the Warriors, while Smith (Noxubee County) had six. Freshman forward Timothy McElroy Jr. (Kemper County) had his best game of the season with 10 points, including four key free throws in overtime, and 10 rebounds.
With the win, East Central is now 8-11 overall and 3-7 in the MACJC South Division. Co-Lin falls to 6-13 and 1-9.
The Co-Lin Lady Wolves avenged a January loss to East Central with a big win in the women's game. Co-Lin built a 16-point first half lead to take control of the contest.
The Lady Warriors hit just 16 of their 60 shots from the floor, including 4 of 22 from the three-point line in the loss. Only sophomore guard Jariyah Covington (Starkville) managed to reach double figures for East Central with 12.
East Central beat Co-Lin 56-49 earlier in the season for its first win over the Lady Wolves since the 2015-16 season.
The Lady Warriors fall to 8-11 overall and 3-7 in the South Division. The Co-Lin Lady Wolves are now 11-8 overall and 5-5 in the division.
East Central will visit Ellisville on Monday, Feb. 10, to face Jones at 5:30/7:30 p.m. Meridian will visit East Central on Thursday, Feb. 13, for games that also tip off at 5:30/7:30 p.m.
All home games can be heard on WKOZ "Cruisin" 98.3 or watched via live stream video at www.eccc.edu/eccc-media.