Men's Basketball | 2/15/2019 2:41:00 PM

ELLISVILLE – The Jones College Bobcats took the lead for good late in the first half defeated Southwest 67-59 here Thursday night at A.B. Howard Gymnasium.
Coupled with Mississippi Gulf Coast's 65-62 win over No. 12 Pearl River that means there is a three-way tie for first place in the division with the Bobcats, Bulldogs and Wildcats each at 10-2. Jones is 16-5 overall.
Southwest led 12-8 early, but Jones came back and took a 20-16 lead on a Tirus Smith (Petal) free throw with 6:19 left in the first half. TJ Ben's 3-pointer would give Southwest its final lead of the night at 25-23 with 3:13 left in the half.
Galen Alexander (Breaux Bridge, Louisiana) tied it at the 2:50 mark and a Winceton Edwards' (Oak Grove) basket at 2:24 gave Jones the lead for good at 27-25. Smith would score with 53 seconds showing and a free throw by Casey Smith Jr. (Columbus) with 6.8 seconds left ended the 7-0 run and gave Jones a 30-25 halftime lead.
Southwest's Jay Malone scored to start the second half and make it 30-27, but the Bears would get no closer.
A David McCoy (Meridian) basket at 8:50 made it 51-36 and a Smith basket at 4:09 gave Jones its longest lead of the evening at 62-42.
Smith and Kenneth Rogers (Starkville) had 13 points each for the Bobcats and Edwards added 11.
Avery Diggs led Southwest with 18 points. Malone added 12 and Bob Boyd had 10.
The Bears are now 12-9 overall, 4-8 in the division.
Jones goes to Mississippi Gulf Coast for a 5:30 p.m. tip on Monday. They end the regular season at home on Feb. 21 vs. Copiah-Lincon.
Southwest hosts Pearl River Monday.
 
Thursday's game
Ellisville 
A.B. Howard Gymnasium
Jones College 65, Southwest 59
Southwest (12-9, 4-8)              25 34 – 59
Jones College (16-5, 10-2)      30 37 – 67
SOUTHWEST (59)– Avery Diggs 18, Jay Malone 12, TJ Ben 11, Bob Boyd 10, Roderick Smith 3, Jalon Andrews 2, Atticus Taylor 2, Damian Dear 1.
JONES COLLEGE (67)– Tirus Smith 13, Kenneth Rogers 13, Winceton Edwards 11, David McCoy 9, Galen Alexander 9, Michael Williams Jr. 6, Casey Smith Jr. 5, Zachariah Malone 1, David Gaines Jr. 0, Sayveon Bumpers 0.