BOONEVILLE, Miss. - Ken Lewis built on the confidence of a buzzer beater to produce a second straight stellar outing for the Northeast Mississippi Community College men's basketball team.
Lewis topped the Tigers with 21 points in a riveting 102-91 victory over Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College on Monday, January 10 inside Bonner Arnold Coliseum.
The Jackson State University transfer nailed a game-winning three-pointer with two-tenths of a second remaining in Northeast's first contest after the Christmas break at Meridian Community College.
Lewis kept his hot touch against the Bulldogs with a 6 of 11 showing from the floor, including a 5 of 9 effort from long distance. He added four key free throws in the final minute after Mississippi Gulf Coast cut its deficit to single digits.
"This semester is more serious. It's winning time now so everybody's got to turn it up a notch," said Lewis. "Our team is playing hard, but we've still got room to improve."
The high-scoring affair featured two of the best teams in the country. The Tigers check in at No. 24 in the latest National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA) rankings while the Bulldogs (10-3, 2-2) are receiving votes.
The 193 combined points are the most in a single game featuring Northeast since December 3, 2019. The Tigers and then-Martin Methodist (Tenn.) College's junior varsity squad totaled 207 points on that date.
Four other teammates joined Lewis in double figures for Northeast. Jalin Rice had 18 points, which included a near flawless 8 of 9 performance at the charity stripe, while Kylan Blackmon added 16 points.
Zeke Cook recorded his sixth double-double of the season with 15 points and 10 rebounds. Hobert Grayson pulled the same trick with 16 points and 10 boards, which were both career-high marks.
The Tigers (11-2, 3-1) led for a vast majority of the game. Blackmon gave Northeast its first double-digit advantage with 8:40 remaining in the opening half on a trey that was assisted by Cook.
Northeast held a 42-34 edge at the break and quickly expanded that with eight unanswered points to start the second half. The Tigers were up by as many as 22 points at 73-51with 9:06 to go following a pair of free tosses by Cook.
"I wasn't happy with the way we finished after they closed that gap," Northeast head coach Cord Wright said. "We've got to do a better job of closing games, but all-in-all we scored the basketball and made some plays."
The Tigers drained 10-plus shots from long distance for the sixth time this year. Northeast had 26 assists on 32 field goals with RL Mattix, Blackmon and Cook all accounting for at least five dimes apiece.
Northeast continues Mississippi Association of Community Colleges Conference (MACCC) play on Thursday, January 13 by visiting Northwest Mississippi Community College. Tipoff is scheduled for 6 p.m. at Howard Coliseum.