CLINTON, Miss. --- The Mississippi College men's basketball team led for more than 27 minutes on Thursday night, but Auburn Montgomery put a layup in at the buzzer to get the 87-85 win in A.E. Wood Coliseum.
The Choctaws fell to 5-14 with a 2-12 mark in the Gulf South Conference, while the Warhawks improved to 7-15 with a 3-11 league record.
TURNING POINT
The Choctaws took their largest lead of the night at 62-51 with 12:41 remaining on a jumper by junior
Brandon Boston, but AUM chipped away at the advantage and scored eight straight points later in the frame to take a 69-68 lead with 6:49 to go.
KEY STATS
The Choctaws shot 51% (29-of-57) from the field, but the Warhawks bested that by shooting 59% (33-of-56).
The two teams were red hot from behind the arc with MC going 9-of-14 (64%) and AUM going 9-of-17 (53%).
The teams also combined for just 11 turnovers in the game as MC gave the ball away a season-low five times.
The Warhawks outscored the Choctaws in the paint, 49-28, and outrebounded MC by a count of 35-33.
Boston tallied his second straight double-double and fifth of the season with 26 points and 11 rebounds, going 9-of-17 from the field and 7-of-10 from the foul line.
Sophomore
Dyllan Taylor came off the bench for the first time this season and scored a career-high 19 points, including 14 in the second half.
Junior
Scot Hundt was a perfect 5-for-5 from the three-point line, scoring 15 points.
The Warhawks had seven players score in double-figures, led by Kenneth Keith with 17.
Darrion Taylor poured in 15, while Carlos Bell had 10 points and a team-high nine rebounds.
HOW IT HAPPENED
The Warhawks scored the first points of the game as Aaron Reddick nailed a jumper on the opening possession to take a 2-0 lead.
They would eventually jump out to a 7-2 advantage before the Choctaws scored six straight to grab the lead on a three-pointer from junior
Tre Jenkins.
The game stayed close over the opening half as the Choctaws would grab as much as a seven-point lead, but a three-pointer by Boston in the final seconds gave them a 43-39 lead at the break.
The Choctaws would maintain that lead and when they went on a 7-0 run capped by a jumper from Boston with 12:41 remaining, the lead was at its largest at 62-51.
AUM would chip away at the advantage until they went on the 8-0 run that would give them the 69-68 lead with 6:49 to go.
Neither team was able to pull away by more than four points the rest of the way, and when Taylor knocked down a pair of free throws with 42 seconds remaining, the Choctaws led, 83-79.
The Warhawks responded with a three-pointer from Taylor to make the score 83-82, but another pair of free throws by
Dyllan Taylor gave MC the three-point lead with 20 seconds left.
Stanley Davis came up with the biggest shot of the game with 10 seconds to go as he hit a three-pointer to tie the game and MC would turn the ball over on the next possession.
Devorious Brown grabbed the inbound pass on the ensuing possession and drove in for the game-winning layup as time expired.
NEXT UP
The Choctaws will be back in action on Saturday (Feb. 9) when they will face Union (TN) at 4:00 p.m. in A.E. Wood Coliseum.
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.
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