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JUCO MEN'S BASKETBALL: Farmer, Jones lift Lions to win in season opener
Staff ReportsHANCEVILLE — Wallace State’s L.A. Farmer finished with 22 points and seven rebounds and Devon Jones added 13 points off the bench to lift the Lions past Northeast Mississippi 65-60 in the season opener for both teams Monday at Tom Drake Coliseum.
Wallace State, the ninth-ranked team in the preseason National Junior College Athletic Association poll, held a 33-32 edge at the half and needed a steal by Farmer on N.E. Mississippi’s final possession to seal the victory.
“L.A.’s got to score for us to be successful this season,” said Wallace State coach Allen Sharpe. “He can score in a hurry and he scored a lot for us tonight (Monday). I told the guys after the game that if you see L.A. running up the court you’ve got to get it in his hands because he can score so quickly. “
Devon Jones also showed up. We need his spark off the bench as well.”
Ricardo Hall went 5-for-6 from the free-throw line and finished with 11 points for Wallace, Derrick Thomas contributed six points and seven rebounds and Sergio Crowe had six points and five rebounds.
Grant Goolsby paced Northeast Mississippi with 13 points, while Chris Gamble had 10.
After neither team managed more than a four-point lead in the first half, Wallace extended its advantage to nine points on two occasions in the second half. Northeast Mississippi fought back both times. Trailing 53-50 in the final seconds, the Tigers had an opportunity to tie the game, but Farmer picked off a pass and hit two free throws with less than one second remaining to cap the scoring.
“I’m proud we got the win and held them to less than 60 points,” Sharpe said. “We had a chance to put the game away in the second half and we didn’t. We’ve got to finish better and work on putting teams away.”
Wallace hits the road Friday for a contest against Chattahoochee Tech at 6:30 p.m.
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