Men's Basketball | 1/18/2019 9:56:00 AM

ELLISVILLE – The Jones College Bobcats trailed for most of the game, but came back to defeat East Central 71-69 in overtime here Thursday night at A.B. Howard Gymnasium.
Jones is now 9-4 overall and 3-1 in the MACJC South Division.
The Bobcats had to battle all evening, but eventually pulled out the win.
East Central led 61-56 with less than three minutes left in regulation.
Tirus Smith (Petal) scored off an offensive rebound with 2:45 to make it 61-58 and Galen Alexander's (Breaux Bridge, Louisiana) floater in the lane cut it to 61-60 with 50 seconds remaining.
East Central's Josh Green was fouled with 13.9 seconds to play. He made the first shot, but missed the second and Jones got the rebound.
The Bobcats got the ball to Winceton Edwards (Oak Grove), who made a 12-footer with :03 left to tie the game at 62-62 and force overtime.
The Warriors were up 64-62 before Smith tied it with a dunk at 2:15 and put Jones ahead for good at 66-64 with a putback at 2:04. Casey Smith Jr. (Columbus) hit two free throws to make it 68-64 with 1:44 to play.
After ECCC's Nick Preyer made two free throws, Edwards made a free throw to make it 69-66 with 25.9 seconds left.
With 7.7 seconds remaining, Preyer was fouled. He made the first shot and missed the second. Jones' Zachariah Malone (Shady Grove, Louisiana) got the rebound and was fouled with 5.9 seconds remaining.
Malone made both foul shots to put the Bobcats up 71-67. Preyer scored with .1 seconds left to end the scoring.
Jones scored the game's first five points before the Warriors rallied with 10 straight to take a 10-5 lead with just over 14 minutes to play in the first half.
After Alexander's two free throws made it 23-20 with 4:57 to play, ECCC went on a 12-1 run. Green's basket gave the Warriors its longest lead of the game at 35-21 with 1:39 left in the first half.
The Bobcats trailed 35-25 at halftime.
But Jones came out quickly in the second half, outscoring the Warriors 14-2 and taking a 39-37 lead with 15:20 to play when Edwards made a layup.
But ECCC would come back and take a 50-45 lead on a JaQuarius Smith layup with 11:25 to play. Another Smith basket gave the Warriors a 61-56 lead with 2:58 remaining to set up the exciting finish.
Alexander led the Bobcats with 15 points, Smith added 12 and Kenneth Rogers (Starkville) had 10.
Roti Ware had 18 points for East Central. Preyer and Smith added 13 each and Green finished with 10. The Warriors are now 7-6 overall, 0-4 in division play.
Jones will visit Southwest on Tuesday for a 7:30 p.m. game, while East Central is at home vs. Meridian on Tuesday.
 
Thursday's game
Ellisville
A.B. Howard Gymnasium
MEN
Jones College 71, East Central 69 (OT)
East Central (7-6, 0-4)             35 27  7– 69
Jones College (9-4, 3-1)          25 37  9 – 71
EAST CENTRAL (69) – Roti Ware 18, Nick Preyer 13, JaQuarius Smith 13, Josh Green 10, Marcus Bates 9, Dontavious Smith 2, Devin Carter 2, Tanner Owen 2.
JONES COLLEGE (71)– Galen Alexander 15, Tirus Smith 12, Kenneth Rogers 10, Winceton Edwards 9, Zachariah Malone 7, Sayveon Bumpers 7, Michael Williams Jr. 5, Shardarrion Allen 4, Casey Smith Jr. 2, David McCoy 0, David Gaines Jr. 0.