VALDOSTA, Ga. --- The Mississippi College men's basketball team turned the ball over a season-high 25 times as Valdosta State capitalized and picked up a 99-81 victory on Thursday night in The Complex.

The Choctaws fell to 6-7 with a 2-5 Gulf South Conference mark, while the Blazers improved to 11-3 with a 5-2 league record.
 

---

HOW IT HAPPENED
  - The first half saw a back-and-forth affair between the two teams with neither squad holding more than a four-point advantage over the first 15 minutes.
  - When Winceton Edwards hit a three-pointer with just over seven minutes left in the period, the Choctaws took their largest lead of the night at 26-22.
  - The Blazers, however, responded with a 9-0 run and never trailed the rest of the way as they took a 49-36 lead into the halftime break.
  - The Choctaws scored the first four points of the second half and would cut the lead to 51-44 with 17:14 to go on a bucket by Winford Ross.
  - The Blazers would put the game away over the next seven minutes, going on a 28-4 run to push the lead out to 79-48.
  - The Choctaws outscored their opponents 33-20 over the final 10 minutes, but VSU had already built up the insurmountable lead.
 

---

KEY STATS
  - The Choctaws turned the ball over 25 times, leading to 13 steals and 35 points for the Blazers.
  - MC was efficient shooting the ball, going 28-of-63 (44%) from the field and 19-of-21 (91%) from the free throw line.
  - The Blazers went 37-of-79 (47%) from the field and 7-of-19 (37%) from the three-point line.
  - Four Choctaws scored in double-figures, led by Edwards with 22 points on 7-of-16 shooting.
  - TJ Ben scored 16 points for MC, while Jon Harding saw his first action of the season and scored 10 points in 11 minutes played.
  - Zach Jones notched his third double-double of the season with 10 points and a team-high 12 rebounds.
  - The Choctaws held a +11 (47-36) edge on the boards and outscored the VSU bench, 38-29.
  - Darrell Jones led all scorers with 27 points, going 10-of-16 from the field.
  - Five different Blazers scored in double-figures on the night.
 

---

NEXT UP
  - The Choctaws will close out the two-game road swing on Saturday when they travel to Pensacola to face West Florida (5-8, 2-4 GSC) at 4:00 p.m.
 

---

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 began 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.