Pictured above-John Sexton looks for the open floor against Northwest at Bonner Arnold Coliseum on Thursday night, February, 5, 2009.

NEMCC TIGERS TAME THE RANGERS; LADY TIGERS LASSOED BY LADY RANGERS

BOONEVILLE, Miss. – Northeast Mississippi Community College’s men’s basketball team tamed the Northwest Rangers at Bonner Arnold Coliseum on Thursday, February 5, while the Lady Rangers in the opener lassoed the Lady Tigers.

The Tigers improved to 12-10, 4-5 defeating the Rangers 82-79 while the Lady Tigers (9-11, 4-5) had a hard time overcoming 24 turnovers losing 93-78 to Northwest.

Sophomore shooting guard John Sexton led Northeast on the men’s finishing the night with 28 points on 9-of-13 shooting from the floor, 5-of-7 from downtown and 5-of-6 from the free throw line.

In the first half, the Tigers tied up the Rangers at the 5:46-mark after Grant Goolsby -- a 5-10 freshman guard from Myrtle -- hit a deep three-pointer knotting the score 34-34, and then on the following play the Myrtle freshman took a charge and the Tigers captured the momentum into the locker room at the half leading 50-45.

Northeast took the Rangers best shot in the second half and was able to hold Northwest from taking the lead however, the Rangers did pull to within four points at the 10:38-mark with help from a trio of players. Kevin Harris and Rod Pegues both finished with 17 points and Justin Gilliard carried in 16 markers for the Rangers while Pegues hauled in eight rebounds. 

At the end, the Tigers were able to post the 82-79 victory with the help of some impressive shooting at the free throw line where Northeast shot 93-percent hitting 13-of-14 from the stripe.

Chris Gamble and William Burdette were both perfect from the charity stripe. 

Gamble was 100-percent from the line (6-of-6) while Burdette shot 100-percent knocking down a pair of free throws for the Tigers.

The Tigers look to continue their winning ways and slide into the playoffs as they prepare to face a lineup of North Division opponents in the upcoming weeks. 

In the opener, the Lady Tigers were plagued once again by turnovers and out hustled in the second half losing on a final score of 93-78.

Coach Ricky Ford’s team only hit 2-of-15 (13-percent) shots from beyond the arc and was 33-of-75 (44-percent) from the floor with 24 turnovers, while the Lady Rangers shot 8-of-29 (28-percent) from three-point land and 35-of-74 (43-percent) from the floor on the night.

Northwest’s top performer was sophomore guard Ciera Thomas (Martin, Tenn.) who finished the game with a game-high 32 points and seven rebounds.

High scorers for Northeast were Shefarrah Turner who had 20 points, Erika Wright finished with 12 points and Eboni Crayton added 11 points on the night.

The Tigers and Lady Tigers will look to improve their position in the North Division standings over the next few weeks in hopes of making the play-offs, as they face division opponents for their last three games of the season.

Northeast’s next game will be against Itawamba Community College in Fulton before heading back home to face Coahoma, and ending the season on the road versus East Mississippi.

Tip-off for the Itawamba game is set for 5 p.m. for the Lady Tigers and 7 p.m. for the Tigers at Davis Event Center.

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