CLINTON, MS - The 3rd-ranked Mississippi College Choctaws (26-2) beat Occidental (19-6) 68-51 Friday night in the first round of the NCAA Division III Championship Tournament and advanced to face Maryville College tomorrow at 7:00 pm in A. E. Wood Coliseum.
Maryville beat Mary Hardin-Baylor 73-62 in the early game to also advance.
The Choctaws started quickly holding a 24-12 midway through the first half and carried a 42-18 lead into halftime. MC hit 17-28 first half shots and held the Tigers to an under 30 percent shooting half. In the second MC cruised with the lead never closer then 14 points.
For the game the Choctaws shot better than 55 percent from the field and held Occidental to 29 percent shooting.
MC was led by #Ryan Hudson# who finished with 15 points on 7-9 shooting from the field and grabbed a game high eight rebounds. Senior D. J. Jones added 12 points. #Timothy Broomfield# and #Tyler Winford# added ten points each. Broomfield also grabbed five rebounds and blocked four shots while Winford hit 5-6 shot attempts.
Occidental was led by Nick Mills' 13 points. Jordan Bremond added nine points. Connor Whitman was held to just three points on a 1-10 shooting night.
