Indians extend win streak to three-straight in overtime

Indians extend win streak to three-straight in overtime
Adam Gore/LetsGoICC.com

DECATUR, MS –Itawamba Community College overcame a five-point halftime deficit to pick up their third-straight win of the year with an 80-77 overtime victory over East Central Community College on Saturday.

"I thought we came out a little flat and a lot of that is due to how East Central controlled the game in the first half," said ICC head basketball coach Grant Pate. "We challenged the guys at halftime to play with a sense of pride and intensity to get back in this game and they answered that challenge."

Sophomore guard Deontaye Ewing (Tupelo) scored a team-high 17 points and added a game-high four steals, all coming in the second half.

"We looked at our sophomores to make things happen for us," Pate commented on the second half of play," Pate commented. "We didn't have their leadership and experience we needed early in the game when things weren't going our way. I thought Deontaye really stepped up his game defensively, Parris (Jeans) and Tre' (Wells) got a lot more aggressive on the boards and Q (Qunintin Lee) really gave us a much better effort on both sides of the floor."

Johnthan McGee (Jackson) had 13 and fellow freshman Chris Harris (Starkville) came off the bench to add 12 while Lee (Ripley, TN) scored 9 with Jeans (Mooreville) scoring 6 points and grabbing 5 rebounds and Wells adding 6 points and 4 boards.

The hot-shooting Indians cooled off against East Central hitting 27-of-71 (38%) attempts from the floor, including 7-of-22 (31.8%) from three, but free throw down the stretch proved to be the difference in overtime.

"I felt like we did a good job staying composed in overtime after coming back to tie the game," Pate. "We were able to get to the line and knock down the shots when they counted instead of letting the moment and atmosphere rattle us."

The overtime win was the second-straight overtime victory at East Central for the Indians after last season's 68-66 overtime victory by the Indians.

Hakeem Wesley scored a game-high 27 while Aquill Baynard added 23 and Brock Hall had 10 points off the bench.