CLINTON – The clock struck midnight on the ICC men’s basketball season Thursday.

The Indians were beaten 78-64 Thursday night by East Mississippi Community College in the NJCAA Region 23 championship game.

No. 12 East Mississippi earned a berth in the NJCAA National Tournament for the first time in school history.

The Indians (20-10) tried to play the role of spoiler, but had a difficult time matching up with the Lions, who had five players scoring in double-digits, led by CoCo Ware’s 19 and Anthony Alexander’s 17 points.

“Ware and Alexander gave us trouble every time we played them,” ICC coach Marty Cooper said. “But they’re going to cause matchup problems for a lot of people.”

Both teams struggled to score early as the Indians led 14-6 with 11:46 left in the first half. The Lions (26-5) started making their run midway through the first half and the Indians didn’t have an answer as East Mississippi went on a 19-6 run to end the half, taking a 38-25 lead at the half.

“We picked the wrong time to quit making shots,” Cooper said. “We got here because we made shots, but tonight we had a hard time getting those shots to fall. But you have to give East Mississippi credit, they’re a good defensive team.”

In the second half, ICC cut the lead to seven twice, but couldn’t make a serious run at the Lions. East Mississippi answered each Indian challenge and was able to put the game away.

“I’m proud of our guys, they kept battling and playing hard,” Cooper said. “East Mississippi has an excellent basketball team and we knew coming in that it was going to be a difficult challenge.”

Melvin Morgan was the only Indian in double digits, scoring 13. Morgan and Todd Nelson were named to the Region 23 All-Tournament team.

Richard Dixon added 12 for the Lions while Terence Bennett and John Harris had 10 each. Ware and Alexander were named to the All- Tournament team.

Cooper is now 3-1 in Region 23 championship games.

Co-Lin beat Baton Rogue County College 78-75 in overtime to win the Region 23 women’s championship.