Wesson, Miss. – The Northeast Mississippi Community College men's basketball program stuck with its mantra on Tuesday to claim one of its biggest wins in the past decade.
The Tigers used a thrilling comeback effort to defeat defending national champion and 16th-ranked Jones County Junior College 67-62 in the quarterfinals of the 2015 Mississippi Association of Community and Junior Colleges (MACJC) State Tournament.
"It went the typical way that we've won some games and that's just a credit to our guys," said Northeast head coach Cord Wright. "I wish we could get ahead and kind of have fun with it, but that's not how we've won recently. It was a great win for the program and the team."
However, it did not look good early for the Tigers in their first playoff contest since the 2010-11 campaign. Northeast's initial seven possessions after the tipoff resulted in four turnovers and three shots that were blocked.
The Tigers (17-7) finally got on the board after a timeout on an Al Azulphar free throw at the 16:05 mark. Jack Nichols followed with a bucket that cut the Bobcats' advantage to 6-3.
That was the closest that Northeast came to taking a lead in the opening half. The Tigers accrued a double-digit deficit and trailed 29-19 at the break after Jones County's Bryce Perry connected on a trey late in the period.
Northeast started its phenomenal turnaround effort five minutes into the second with a 7-0 run. Chris Ward initiated the rally with a layup that was assisted by Chase Carroll and Azulphar added three makes from the charity stripe to bring the Tigers within one possession of the Bobcats' advantage.
Neither squad led by more than six points from that point. Northeast brought the matchup into a stalemate for the initial time with 7:49 left on a Dimario Jackson trey.
The Tigers did not push ahead though until late in the contest. Otis Harvey's three-pointer extended Jones County's (18-4) lead to 58-54 with less than three minutes remaining.
But Nichols responded with his second huge make from beyond the arc in as many trips down the floor to push the momentum back to Northeast's bench. The Booneville native tied a career-high with five made field goals and had 13 points against the Bobcats.
"Coach (Wright) told me to shoot the ball with confidence," Nichols said. "I never got down on myself. I stepped up and knocked them down."
The Tigers overtook Jones County moments later when Jackson drove through the lane and dished a pass to Ward, who connected on a beautiful floater to make it 59-58 in favor of Northeast. Dexter Stafford set up the play with one of his game-best 16 rebounds on the afternoon.
"He's kinda been that guy that doesn't get the credit, but he's earned it," said Wright. "He's the reason that we were able to be the team that we were late in the game because we needed those rebounds."
Raheem Sorrell then came off the bench following a timeout and drained a huge shot from just inside the three-point line to give the Tigers a slight bit of breathing room at 61-58.
Bryce Jones had a pair of short jumpers during the final minute, but the combination of Desmin Harris and Jackson made six of eight free throws in that same span to help Northeast claim a signature victory over the Bobcats.
Jackson recorded game-highs of 19 points and eight assists to top the Tigers. The Brusly, La., product was 8 of 10 on his free shots and added four boards as well.
"We kept fighting and battling like always," Jackson said. "There was never a time that we got down. We made some mistakes in the beginning and I think everybody was just anxious. This just tells you how tough we really are."
Sorrell rounded out the double-digit scorers for Northeast with 10. The Tigers outrebounded their opposition by a plus-16 margin and accounted for 11 second-chance points.
Rodrigus Palmer came off the bench to top Jones County with 18 points. Jones had 15 and eight assists while Harvey tallied 13.
It is the first postseason win for Northeast since defeating Pearl River Community College on February 26, 2008 in the MACJC State Tournament at Itawamba Community College's Davis Event Center.
The Tigers downed a program that appeared in some form in the National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA) poll for the second time this year. Northeast won on the road at Columbia State (Tenn.) Community College, which was receiving votes at the time, in December.
It was the eighth occasion this campaign that the Tigers came from behind to win after trailing by multiple possessions in the second half. The last such instance came on February 9 in a close 76-74 triumph at rival Itawamba Community College.