ELLISVILLE – In their first meeting in nearly three years, No. 25 Jones College posted a hard-fought, 89-82 decision over Mississippi Delta here Thursday night at A.B. Howard Gymnasium.
 
Ashton Campbell (Forrest County AHS) led four Bobcats in double figures with 18 points. Caleb McGill (Petal) and Calvin Temple (Center Hill) had 17 points each and Lovell Smith (Brooklyn, N.Y.) came off the bench to score 16 points.
 
Jones is now 13-3 overall and 5-3 in the MACCC. The Trojans fall to 2-14 and 0-7.
 
The game was back and forth before Jones would take its longest lead of the opening half at 26-20 when McGill dunked on a fast break with Decorian Payton (Center Hill) getting the assist at the 9:19 mark.
 
The Trojans battled back and matched its longest lead of the evening at 40-37 when Morgan Green made two free throws with 4:09 showing.
 
Jones ended the half on a 13-5 run, capped by a 3-point play by Smith, and took a 50-45 halftime lead.
 
MDCC came back to take a 62-59 lead when Green converted a 3-point play with 13:12 remaining.
 
But the Bobcats would take the lead for good after back-to-back treys by Campbell and Temple to make it 65-62. Another Campbell 3-pointer capped an 11-0 run and put Jones ahead 70-62 with 10:35 to play.
 
The closest the Trojans would get after that would be 70-65 with 6:50 remaining on a pair of free throws by Willie Eagins, Jr.
 
Jones would then match its longest lead of the game when Smith converted a 3-point play to make it 87-76 with 2:38 left.
 
Cowandric Samuel (Jackson Callaway) had a solid, all-around game for Jones with eight points, eight rebounds and nine assists. Jabari Bowman (Warren Central) led the Bobcats with 10 rebounds, in addition to scoring seven points. McGill added eight boards.
 
MDCC's Rylen Walker led all scorers with 30 points. He also had eight rebounds and six steals. Green added 13 points and Eagins and D.J. Harried had 11 points each.
 
Jones was 30-of-74 from the floor for 41 percent, 8-of-29 from 3-point range for 28 percent and 21-of-27 from the foul line for 78 percent. The Trojans made 31-of-62 from the field for 50 percent, hit 3-of-10 from beyond the arc for 30 percent and made 17-of-20 from the free throw line for 85 percent.
 
The Bobcats outrebounded MDCC, 47-34, and had 23 assists compared to 18 for the Trojans. Jones committed 21 turnovers and MDCC had 22.
 
The Trojans outscored Jones 52-38 on points in the paint. The Bobcats had 25 fast break points and MDCC had 18.
 
Jones visits No. 20 Northeast Mississippi for a 6 p.m. contest on Monday. The Tigers dropped their first conference game of the season on Thursday, falling 74-67 at Holmes.
 
MDCC goes to No. 7 East Mississippi on Monday.