POPLARVILLE – Jones College battled unbeaten and second-ranked Pearl River to the end, but came up short here Thursday night at Marvin R. White Coliseum.
 
The Wildcats held off the Bobcats, 74-66, outscoring Jones 9-5 over the game's final 2:51.
 
The Bobcats fall to 13-5 overall, 5-5 in the MACJC South Division.
 
Pearl River appeared to be in control, taking a 52-36 lead with 15:24 to play in the game on a Rodrick Brown free throw.
 
But Jones roared back and pulled within 55-53 with 8:11 remaining on a pair of Sai Fisher (New Orleans, Louisiana) free throws. PRCC then scored six straight points and took a 61-53 lead with 6:16 left on a dunk by Isaih Moore.
 
Jones cut the lead to 67-63 with 1:47 to play on a Tradavis Thompson (Raymond) jump shot, but that was as close as the Bobcats would get.
 
The Bobcats started off the game in good shape. A Thompson 3-pointer gave them a 10-6 lead with 15:01 left in the first half. But PRCC took the lead for good at 17-15 when Jariyon Wilkens made a layup.
 
The Wildcats led 35-30 at halftime.
 
Thompson had a career-high 19 points to lead the Bobcats. Casey Smith Jr. (Columbus) added 13 and SharDarrion Allen (Raymond) added 11 points. Allen also had 11 rebounds to give him his 10th double-double of the season. Smith had three assists.
 
Moore had 23 points for Pearl River with Tae Hardy getting 20 and Brown adding 13. 
 
The Bobcats were 25-of-63 from the floor (5-of-15 from 3-point range) for 40 percent. Jones was only 11-of-19 from the free throw line.
 
Pearl River was 26-of-64 from the field (4-of17 from 3-point range) for 41 percent. They were 18-of-24 from the foul line.
 
The Wildcats held a 46-34 rebounding margin.
 
The Bobcats will host East Central at 7:30 p.m. on Monday and the game will be streamed at JCJC.TV. 
 
Pearl River, 18-0 overall and 10-0 in division play, goes to Hinds on Monday.