By By Jeff Byrd/The Meridian Star
Nov. 6, 2001
Life goes on for the East Mississippi men's basketball team.
The Lions gave Meridian Community College all they could handle here on Monday night before a packed crowd at the Ivy Sports Center.
But in the end, the Lions just couldn't get the shot to go down they needed to knock off the Eagles. East's Dennis Dupre missed a driving layup that would've tied the game at 64-all in the final four seconds.
Playing in their season opener, and in the first game since the tragic death last month of head coach Steve Hull, the Lions fought the Eagles tooth-and-nail.
Assistant coach Clay Armstrong stepped up to lead the Lions program following Hull's death. He was joined on the bench by womens' softball coach Pam Moore.
Judging by Monday's performance, Hull would be proud.
Armstrong, for his part, was more concerned with what went wrong on Monday night, than with the team's emotional standing.
They hit shots and we didn't. We missed free throws and they didn't. It was just a bad luck game for us,' Armstrong said.
The Lions, though, should be physically strong all season. That's because they have 6-foot-6 power forward Reshard Alonza.
Alonza made his presence felt through-out the second half keeping the Lions in the game to the end. He scored 12 of his game high 18 points in the second half.