CLINTON, MS - The Mississippi College men's basketball team clinched an ASC Tournament berth with a 74-66 win over Louisiana College on Monday evening in A.E. Wood Coliseum.

The win gave the Choctaws the #4 seed in the ASC East Division and qualified them for the playoffs where they will face McMurry at 12:00 p.m. on Friday at the University of Texas-Dallas.

The Choctaws took their largest lead of the game with 4:16 remaining at 33-23 on a free throw by Pierre Hadley.  The Wildcats finished the first half on a 7-2 run to cut the advantage to 35-30.

LC opened the second half on a 6-0 run to take a one-point lead.  The Choctaws answered with a 16-7 run to take a 51-43 lead with 11:34 to go in the game.

The Wildcats came back to tie the game at 64 with 2:25 remaining and at 66 with 1:38 remaining.  Junior Marlon Ester gave the Choctaws the lead for good with his only made three-pointer of the night.

MC hit 5-8 free throws down the stretch to earn the eight-point win.  With the loss, LC ends their season 11-13 and 10-10 in the American Southwest Conference.

Ken Black was impressive on "Senior Night", scoring 20 points on 9-13 shooting and pulling down six rebounds.  Sophomore Cameron Bounds tallied a double-double with 10 points and 10 boards.

Ester and junior Greg Pulliam also finished the game in double-figures with 12 and 15, respectively.  Senior Kelvin Lester tallied a team-high five assists in the victory.

The Choctaws outrebounded the Wildcats, 38-27, in a game that had 10 lead changes.

Jarrod Jackson paced LC with 27 points on 10-19 shooting from the floor and 5-10 shooting from the three-point line.  Korey Salmon scored 16 points, while Chukwuma Ekeh scored 10.

The Choctaws will be back in action on Friday afternoon when they face McMurry at 12:00 p.m. in the ASC Tournament in Richardson, TX.