FULTON, MS – You don’t win a rivalry game with one hot stretch or one big shot. You win it by answering every swing, owning the glass, and making the other team work for everything.
The Indians did all of that in an 89-76 win over Northeastern Thursday night.
Tim Holliday scored 15 points, Kyler Fox controlled the paint and the Indians defeated Northeast 89-76 in a conference game that remained tight until ICC sent the Tigers faithful to the exit in the final minutes of the contest.
ICC (10-6, 1-1 MACCC) took a 43-29 lead into halftime, then came out of the locker room looking to finish the job. Jason Johnson opened the second half with an interception off a Damarion Winston assist. On the next drive, Fox sent the Northeast shot back to half court to send the student section and the rest of the crowd rolling into the DEC.
Johnson later made a sequence of plays that summed up the night for the Indians.
He missed a dunk, grabbed his own rebound, missed again, got it back and ended up in the rim anyway. It was a possession crusher that helped ICC prevent the Tigers from finding any rhythm at the start of the half.
The Tigers (10-8, 0-2 MACCC) still prevailed. Javion Stephen hit a 3-pointer to start it, Buddy Spearman and Tayler Berryhill added 3-pointers and Northeast cut it to 67-59 with 7:49 remaining.
The ICC responded immediately. Jordan Frazier knocked down a 3-pointer to push it back to 70-59, and the Indians went back to what worked: stop, rebound, attack the paint. Fox drove through traffic and later dropped back-to-back dunks in the final two minutes to put an exclamation point on the win.
Harper had 14 points with six assists and two steals. Fox finished with 12 points, 12 rebounds and two blocks. Johnson and Frazier each added 12 points, while DJ Davis scored 10 as six different players reached double figures for the Indians.
The Indians will travel to Senatobia on Tuesday to take on Northwest (12-5, 1-1 MACCC). The Rangers lost 95-85 at Holmes (13-2, 2-0 MACCC) on Thursday.
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