POPLARVILLE, Miss. - The cardiac Tigers have found a way to survive for the second day in a row.
The Northeast Mississippi Community College men's basketball team once again worked its way back from a double-digit deficit to defeat Meridian Community College by a score of 59-58 on Wednesday, February 23 at Marvin R. White Coliseum.
The Tigers advance to the title game of the Mississippi Association of Community Colleges Conference (MACCC) Tournament to meet former division rival East Mississippi Community College on Thursday, February 24. Tipoff is slated for 7:30 p.m. on the campus of Pearl River Community College.
"I can't credit our guys enough," Northeast head coach Cord Wright said. "I'm proud of the whole team. Everybody's got a role. These guys are used to winning going back to high school. They're built for these moments."
Northeast's only lead prior to its final possession was at 2-0 early in the contest. The Tigers (21-4) trailed 27-23 at halftime, but got back to within one point of the Eagles' advantage with 10 minutes remaining.
However, Meridian accounted for 15 of the next 19 points to take its largest lead of the entire game at 54-42 with 5:59 to go. Northeast started its comeback from there with six quick points, including a big trey from Keithean Brooks.
A lay in by Zeke Cook that was assisted by Jalin Rice made the score 58-56 in favor of the Eagles at the 1:11 mark. A miss on the front end of a one-plus-one opportunity by Meridian set the stage for the Tigers' heroics moments later.
Steven Gentry's inbounds pass from beside the Northeast bench went to Cook near the free throw line. He immediately dished it to a wide-open Kylan Blackmon, who drained the winning three-point shot with 7.2 seconds left on the clock.
"In the timeout, coach (Kyle) Morris drew up a perfect play and we executed it well. It felt good to see it go in," said Blackmon. "We never give up and always play hard. We've got some fight in us. Everybody contributes in some way."
Meridian had a chance to spoil the Tigers' come-from-behind effort at the buzzer, but a big block by Kameron Jones on a running layup attempt by the Eagles (19-6) sealed Northeast's berth to the championship tilt.
"I'm glad I got the job done," Jones said. "We're locked in and focused. We don't stop playing no matter what the score is. As long as there's time on the clock, we still think we have a chance."
Gentry topped four Tigers in double figures with 13 points on 4 of 8 shooting from the floor. Blackmon and Brooks had identical 11 point performances while Rice added 10 points plus seven rebounds.
Northeast was plus-13 on the glass with Hobert Grayson grabbing a game-high nine boards. The nationally ranked Tigers held Meridian to just one basket and four total points over the last six minutes.