Wallace State basketball teams sweep Northeast Mississippi in home openers

HANCEVILLE – Wallace State’s basketball teams were both impressive during their home openers Thursday, sweeping Northeast Mississippi CC at Tom Drake Coliseum.
Wallace State’s men opened the doubleheader with a convincing 90-52 win over the Tigers, and the 16^th-ranked Lady Lions followed with a 76-69 triumph.
The teams shifted normal starting times to precede the high school boys’ finals of Thursday’s inaugural Regional Tip-off Challenge.
Four Wallace State men finished with double figures in its rout and all 14 players scored. Freshman Lee Moore paced the way with 17 points, Marcus Johnson poured in 16, X-keem scored eight of his 10 points in the first half and Jestin Lewis added 10.
“We feel like we have a lot of depth. It’s the first game we’ve had every player available. We wanted to utilize that and get everyone some minutes in the first half. We were afforded the chance to do it again in the second half,” said Wallace State coach John Meeks, who’s in his fourth season with the program. “This team is really, really deep and if we shoot the ball and defend like we did in the first half, I think we can be tough to beat.”
Moore and Jones helped Wallace State (2-1) build its early cushion. Leading 16-13, both newcomers combined for the next 12 points and extended the Lions’ lead to 28-13 with 6:12 remaining in the first half. Jones nailed a pair of 3-pointers and a baseline jumper during the surge, while Moore added a pair of shots in the lane.
Wallace State led 43-20 at the half, hardly allowing the Tigers any easy baskets the entire game.
“We’ve spent a lot of time in practice on protecting the paint. I thought our guys did a good job of executing that,” Meeks said.
Darius Joell added seven points to Wallace State’s output, Quinterian McConico finished with six and Marcus Lewis and Dominique Taylor scored five points apiece.
For Northeast Mississippi, Marcus Hogan scored 14 points.
Wallace State women 76, Northeast Mississippi CC 69
Freshmen forwards Morgan Smith and Ashley Rodgers each made sure their home debuts in a Wallace State uniform were memorable.
Smith scored 10 of her 16 points in the second half, Rodgers contributed 11, and both girls helped the Lady Lions pull away in the final minutes after playing catch up for the majority of the game.
The Lady Lions (2-1) trailed 41-35 at halftime, but gradually chipped away at the deficit during the first 10 minutes of the second half.
Wallace State finally seized a 53-52 advantage on a Rodgers’ layup with 9:01 remaining in the half. Rodgers and Smith then put on a show over the next seven minutes, combining for 15 of Wallace State’s next 17 points and pushing the lead to 70-63.
Sophomores Brandee Busenlehner and Jasmine Coleman combined for the final six points to close out the win.
“Morgan and Ashley are coming around. They weren’t even playing their first high school games this time last year. Freshman players get it at some point and time, and I believe they each had their break-out games,” said third-year Wallace State coach Ron Burdette. “I told our team the winner was going to be decided by who wanted it more in the second half. I think we decided we were going to take it. I’m very proud of our effort over the final 20 minutes. It was a great 20 minutes. Once we grabbed the momentum, we never lost it.”
Coleman finished with a game-high 21 points and collected eight rebounds for Wallace State. Jaylan Snowden contributed eight points and Busenlehner added five.
Northeast Mississippi had four girls in double figures. Antionette Riddle had 18 points, Daisha Williams and Aushiana Ivy each scored 13 and Jasmine Allen added 12.
Both Wallace State teams play at Motlow (Tenn.) State on Tuesday.
For more information about Wallace State athletics, visit wallacestate.edu.