Pictured above-#22 Rumae Butler drives to the baske for the Lady Tigers in their victory against Miss. Delta on February 2, 2009 at Bonner Arnold Coliseum.

TIGERS; LADY TIGERS SWEEP-UP BONNER ARNOLD COLISEUM

BOONEVILLE, Miss. – Opening the final month of the season with a two-game home stand, the Northeast Tigers and Lady Tigers swept the Mississippi Delta Trojans and Lady Trojans in grand fashion in Monday night's North Division doubleheader to the delight of the home crowd.

The Lady Tigers (9-10, 4-4) opened up the evening with some early spring cleaning by defeating the Lady Trojans with a convincing 10-point victory 69-59.

In the last match-up between the two teams on January 8, Northeast lost by 10 points at J.T. Hall Coliseum 77-67 but, they returned the favor while in the friendly confines of Bonner Arnold Coliseum in last night's hardwood action.

Northeast quickly jumped ahead of Mississippi Delta by taking a nine point lead 16-7 and forced the Lady Trojans to call an early time-out at around the 13:00 mark of the first half.

Coach Ricky Ford's team then pushed that nine-point lead to a 14 point lead at 37-23 before the intermission with the help of a 10-0 run that came at around the 5:47 mark.

However, in the second half Mississippi Delta would cut Northeast’s lead down to just a six-point lead with10:23 left in the game 55-49.

But the Lady Tigers found the “Wright” answer and refused to relinquish their lead with the help of strong play from forwards Erika Wright, and NJCAA Pre-Season All-American Eboni Crayton down the stretch.

Crayton would finish the evening with 21 points and seven rebounds, while her teammate Wright recorded a double-double, shooting 6-of-12 from the floor for a total of 15 points, while pulling down an impressive 19 rebounds in her strong performance on the evening.

“Wright played excellent for us tonight, she had a great game”, said Coach Ford.

Al'Lisha Hudson also scored in double digits for the Lady Tigers, knocking down 5-of-6 free-throws and shooting 4-of-9 from the hardwood for a total of 13 points.

On the men’s side, Northeast head Coach David Robbins took a “Gamble” on Monday night and put the rock in the hands of Chris Gamble. 

Robbins Gamble paid off as the sophomore forward went on to finish the game with a double-double on 12-points and 12-boards in the 65-58 victory.

“Chris is beginning to get that look about him,” said Robbins.  “He played extremely well on both ends of the court for us last night”.

The Tigers (11-10, 3-5) played solid team ball with three other players also finishing in double figures on the evening.  Andre Southern added 10 points, while John Sexton knocked down 14 points, and William Burdette got 10 points in his strong performance versus the Trojans.

Mississippi Delta was led by Trevon Malone with 18 points and was 8-of-13 from the floor.
Northeast went to the locker room at halftime down by a one-point 32-31, but would rally in the second half to take the lead at the 9:20 mark in the game and would never look back.

Doc Johnson made sure the “eye of the tiger” remained focused when he stole the ball and went coast-to-coast for the two-point lay-up with 4:50 left to play in the game to put the Tigers up 53-49.
Gamble and Sexton would help seal the deal for Northeast at the charity stripe.

Gamble hit 1-of-2 free throws with two minutes left to play in the game to make the score 57-53. Sexton followed that up with six straight from the line in the last minute and a half to preserve the win.

The Tigers and Lady Tigers will be back at Bonner Arnold Coliseum facing Northwest in another North Division match-up on February 5, at Bonner Arnold Coliseum.  Tip-off is set for 6 p.m. for the Lady Tigers and 8 p.m. for the Tigers.

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