CLINTON, Miss. --- Junior Lakin Ford tallied his first career double-double with 13 points and 11 rebounds as the Mississippi College men's basketball team pulled away for a 78-60 victory over Schreiner on Thursday night in A.E. Wood Coliseum.
The Choctaws (6-5, 3-3 ASC) held the Mountaineers (5-7, 3-4 ASC) to just 28% (9-32) shooting from the floor in the second half as they turned a 39-31 halftime advantage into as many as a 22-point lead in the final minutes.
In the final seconds of the first half, junior Vic McLin, Jr. came away with a steal and a thunderous dunk to give MC the eight-point advantage at the buzzer.
Schreiner made a run in the opening minutes, cutting the lead to just 41-38 with 17:51 remaining when AJ Myres nailed a three-pointer. It would be the final three-point make for the Mountaineers on the night as they went just 7-27 (26%) from behind the arc.
Another dunk by McLin, Jr. at the 12:59 mark capped of an 11-0 run by the Choctaws to that pushed the lead into double-digits at 52-38. Vic scored seven points and had three rebounds on the night.
The Mountaineers would cut the lead to nine pionts down the stretch, but a 12-0 flurry gave MC a 73-52 advantage with 73-52 remaining. Freshman Andrew Fehrenbacher scored his first career points with two free throws in the final minutes, while fellow rookie Will Tabor scored on a driving layup for his first career score.
Junior Brandon Blake was MC's leading scorer with 19 points, going 7-12 from the floor. Senior Adam Smith recorded 14 points, nine rebounds and four steals in the victory. Senior Kendre' Smith also had four steals to go along with five points.
In the first half, junior Daryl Duncan made a three-pointer that gave the Choctaws their 394th consecutive game with a long ball, dating back to March 5, 1998.
Every Choctaw that saw action tonight got on the scoreboard. MC outrebounded the Mountaineers 44-32 and also scored 28 points off of 19 Schreiner turnovers.
Grant Clark led the Mountaineers with 19 points, going 7-14 from the floor and 4-10 from the three-point line. The MC defense stepped up in the second half, only allowing Clark to score one point after an 18-point first half.
The Choctaws will be back in action on Saturday when they host Texas Lutheran at 1:00 p.m. in the "Golden Dome". The Mountaineers will hit the road to face Louisiana College on Saturday.