CLINTON – Jones College scored the game's first eight points and rolled to a 79-69 victory over Northwest Mississippi here Thursday evening in the Region 23 Tournament semifinals at the A.E. Wood Coliseum on the campus of Mississippi College.
 
The Bobcats (20-6) will meet No. 2 Pearl River at 7 p.m. Friday for the championship. The Wildcats are 27-0 and the Bobcats are 0-3 vs. PRCC this season. Pearl River defeated Hinds 81-54 in the other semifinal game.
 
The winner of the Jones vs. PRCC contest will advance to the NJCAA Division I National Tournament March 16-21 in Hutchinson, Kansas.
 
SharDarrion Allen (Raymond) posted his 16th double-double of the season with 19 points and 18 rebounds. His posterizing dunk gave Jones an 8-0 lead at the 15:55 mark of the first half. Kenneth Rogers (Starkville) added 15 points by making 5-of-6 3-point attempts. Tradavis Thompson (Raymond) had 12 points. Casey Smith Jr. (Columbus) finished with nine assists and eight points. Zachariah Malone (Shady Grove, Louisiana) had eight points and eight rebounds.
 
The Rangers were within 20-14 midway through the first half when the Bobcats went on a 17-5 run, capped by a pair of Sai Fisher (New Orleans, Louisiana) free throws, to make it 37-19 with 3:18 left in the opening half.
 
Jones led 42-28 at intermission.
 
Northwest got within 56-48 with 7:37 to play on a 3-pointer by Kavonte Tunstall, but a Malone layup followed by a Rogers' trey moved the lead back to 61-48 with 5:45 remaining. The closest the Rangers got after that was 63-55 with 4:18 left on a Jakobi Pearson 3-pointer. 
 
Jones then scored six straight points to go up 69-55 with inside of three minutes to play.
 
The Bobcats shot 49 percent from the floor (22-of-45) and 47 percent (7-of-12) from beyond the arc. Jones outrebounded Northwest, 47-32.
 
Pearson had 24 points to lead Northwest. R.J. Duhart had 18 points and 11 rebounds and James Richards III finished with 14 points.
 
The Rangers end the year at 16-10.