LIVINGSTON, Ala. --- The Mississippi College men's basketball team got 27 points apiece from senior Marcus Lytle and junior Brandon Boston, but West Alabama would erase a 14-point second half deficit on their way to an 81-79 overtime victory on Saturday afternoon at Pruitt Hall.

The Choctaws fell to 3-3 on the season with a 1-1 Gulf South Conference record and two losses in overtime, while the Tigers improved to 4-2 and 2-0 in league play.

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HOW IT HAPPENED

- The Tigers would go on the first big run of the game, scoring seven straight points to stake claim to an 11-4 lead with 16:31 to go in the first half.
- The Choctaws would battle back and after a layup from Lytle with 7:03 remaining, the score would be tied at 24-24.
- Lytle would knock down a pair of free throws at the end of the half, and MC would take a 36-34 lead into the break.
- The second half opened with a 10-2 run by the Choctaws, capped off by a jumper from Boston with 17:18 to go that made the score 46-36.
- MC would grab their largest lead of the night at 52-38 with 13:33 remaining after a pair of buckets from sophomore Dyllan Taylor and a score from Lytle to cap a 6-0 run.
- The Tigers began to chip away at the lead and would cut the score to 64-62 after a free throw from DeAndre Harper with 2:57 remaining.
- MC would push the lead back to five and would have a 71-67 advantage with under a minute remaining but a pair of free throws by Acie Vance with 46 seconds remaining cut the lead to just a bucket.
- The Choctaws would keep the 71-69 lead until the final second when Jake Jobling nailed a jumper to send the game into overtime.
- In the extra period, the Lytle knocked down a three-pointer to give MC a lead, and Boston would hit a pair of free throws with 3:01 remaining to make the score 76-75.
- Lajuan Hardy answered with a three-pointer of his own for UWA and hit three free throws in the final minutes to extend the Tiger lead to 81-76 with 50 seconds remaining.
- Junior Tre Jenkins hit a three-pointer, but the Choctaws could not get a look at a game-tying or game-winning shot on their last possession as they dropped a tough road game.
 

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KEY STATS

- Boston scored a season-high 27 points, going 10-of-18 from the floor and 6-of-7 from the free throw line.
- Lytle poured in his season-high, as well, hitting 8-of-15 shots, including 3-of-5 from long range and 8-of-10 from the foul line.
- As a team, the Choctaws shot 28-of-58 (48%) from the field, but went just 6-of-22 (27%) from the three-point line.
- The Choctaws shot 17-of-21 from the free throw line, but the Tigers went to the line 34 times, knocking down just 20 (59%).
- MC was outrebounded 40-25, including giving up three offensive rebounds on the final possession of regulation.
- Hardy scored a team-high 21 points for the Tigers, while Ricky Dunaway scored 19 points.
 

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GAME NOTES

- The Choctaws and Tigers have now met 68 times in the series history with both teams grabbing 34 victories.
- UWA has won three straight, including sweeping both meetings last season.
- The two teams are scheduled to play again in the regular season finale in Clinton on February 28th.
 

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NEXT UP

- The Choctaws will be back in action next Saturday when they will host Pensacola Christian at 4:00 p.m. in A.E. Wood Coliseum.
 

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Mississippi College is a private Christian university located in Clinton, Mississippi with an enrollment of over 5,000 students. MC recently finished their transition process back to NCAA Division II and the Gulf South Conference and will be competing for conference and national championships in the 2016-17 academic year.

The athletic department sponsors 17 intercollegiate athletic programs: Baseball, Men's and Women's Basketball, Men's and Women's Cross Country, Football, Golf, Men's and Women's Soccer, Softball, Men's and Women's Tennis, Men's and Women's Indoor Track & Field, Men's and Women's Outdoor Track & Field and Volleyball.

For more information on Mississippi College athletics, please contact David Nichols at 601-925-3234 or nichols@mc.edu.