SCOOBA – It's not how you start, but how you finish.

Jones climbed out of an early 9-0 hole, rallied to take the lead at half and held off a late East Mississippi push to get a big 82-76 road win over the Lions Thursday at Keyes T. Currie Coliseum.

The Bobcats, 10-3, are just the second MACCC team to 10 wins while EMCC fell to 5-5. 

Trailing for the first 13-plus minutes, LJ Hackman's three-pointer in front of the EMCC bench gave Jones its first lead, 20-19. 

The Lions retook the lead on Tremaine Dixon Jr.'s and-one, 25-24, but would never lead again after two of Dimp Pernell's 16 points put Jones on top 27-25. 

Jones led 28-26 at half and the lead was as large as 15 with 8:26 to play in the second.

EMCC cut what was an 11-point deficit down to six with under 40 seconds to play before Jones was able to salt it away.

Hackman finished with a game-high 22 points, including 13 of 14 from the charity stripe. D. Pernell had 16 points and Ky Pernell and Trey Smith 14 apiece. Malik Franklin had seven points and five boards off the bench and Jylan Howze six points and eight rebounds.

Jones shot 45 percent from the floor against 42 percent for the Lions, who had four players in double figures.

The Bobcats travel to Delgado on Dec. 14 for a 6 p.m. tip. It's the first matchup between the two teams since the 2015-16 season.