Ellisville, Miss. – The Northeast Mississippi Community College men's basketball team looks to keep its momentum going strong as postseason play begins inside the Magnolia State.
The Mississippi Association of Community and Junior Colleges (MACJC) North Division champions begin the state tournament with a matchup against East Central Community College at 3 p.m. on Tuesday, February 28 at Jones County Junior College's A.B. Howard Gymnasium.
Every Northeast game in the MACJC State Tournament will air live and in high definition on NEMCCTV. Tune in starting 15 minutes prior to tipoff for the pregame show by visiting www.nemcctv.com on any computer, tablet or smartphone.
The Northeast Broadcasting Network also includes Booneville based radio station WBIP. An audio simulcast featuring Jody Presley and Carter Smith, the Voices of the Tigers, can be heard on 99.7 FM and AM 1400 on your digital dial.
Search and follow @NEMCCTigers on Twitter for live in-game updates and interact during the matchup by using the hashtag #TigerPower across all social media platforms.
The Tigers (17-6) claimed their sixteenth division championship in program history and the first since the 1999-2000 campaign by winning seven consecutive contests to close the regular season.
The Warriors are on a hot stretch of their own as well. East Central was victorious in six of its last seven games, including a 122-119 double overtime triumph over Hinds Community College, to secure the South Division four-seed.
This will be the second meeting of the year between these two squads. Northeast outscored the Warriors 41-22 in the second half behind 23 points from Kendarius Smith to capture a pivotal road region win by a final margin of 75-64 on December 8.
"I expect them to bring everything they've got," said Tigers head coach Cord Wright. "They've probably got a little bit of a chip on their shoulder from us beating them at their place. It should be an exciting game."
Northeast has bitter memories of its own from the 2016 MACJC State Tournament when it was eliminated in the first round by Jones County. The Tigers went on alleviate that loss by capturing the region title, but plan to use that setback as extra motivation this week.
"We always want to go in there and compete to win," Wright said. "It starts by taking care of business. Our team has kinda come together and our guys have bought into their roles both offensively and defensively. I like the way things are rolling right now."
Northeast is accumulating 81.5 points per game, which is its most since Wright took the reins of the program prior to the 2013-14 campaign. The Tigers have five players that are pacing that effort by reaching double figures on a nightly basis.
Leroy Buchanan has started in 51 straight contests since arriving on the Booneville campus. The Murray State (Ky.) University signee posts a team-best 18.8 points and has scored more than 800 points during his tenure at Northeast.
Shunn Buchanan, who is Leroy's brother and a former Dandy Dozen selection by The Clarion-Ledger while at Madison Central High School, is averaging 18.7 points in the month of February alone and has hit two game-winning shots in the final 10 seconds during that stretch.
"I'm very excited to go down with my team and compete for a state championship," said Buchanan. "It's going to take a team effort. We have to take pride in defense, get stops and just move the ball on offensive and execute.
Two sharpshooters for the Tigers in Velma Jackson High School alumnus Kendarius Smith and Darius Williams of Lexington, Ky., average identical numbers of 10.4 points. Both of them are outstanding three-point shooters with nearly two made treys per matchup.
"I think we're at our best right now," Smith said. "Our defense and offense have gotten a lot better. We're really just taking it one game at a time. It's about us and what we do. I'm ready to play."
Kendall Stafford from Corinth rounds out the list of double-digit scorers with 10.2 for Northeast. The elder Buchanan tops the Tigers in rebounding with seven each outing, steals at 1.7 and blocks with 1.5.
Sophomore forward Tonzell Handy paces the Warriors (14-9) with 15.2 points, 7.9 rebounds and 1.6 steals while freshman guard Cayman Ruffin contributes 10.5 points as well.
The winner between Northeast and East Central will battle the victor of the Itawamba Community College versus Southwest Mississippi Community College contest in the semifinals on Wednesday, March 1. The men's championship game is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. one night later.