BROWNWOOD, Texas --- The Mississippi College men's basketball team opened American Southwest Conference play with a 76-70 victory over Howard Payne on Thursday night at Brownwood Coliseum.

The Choctaws (3-0, 1-0 ASC) led by as many as 13 points in the second half, but had to withstand a rally from the Yellow Jackets (1-3, 0-2 ASC), who tied the game with 8:30 remaining, 52-52.

MC pushed the lead to 66-57 with 4:08 to go, but HPU would not go away as they hit consecutive three-pointers to cut the lead to 66-64 with just 3:08 to go.

Ahead by three with 1:37 remaining, junior Turmonte Ragland launched a desparation three-pointer as the shot clock expired, and junior Cameron Bounds came away with the offensive rebound and put-back that put MC ahead by five points.

Down the stretch, MC went 6-8 from the free throw line and Bounds and junior Brandon Blake had two of the Choctaws' eight blocked shots to clinch the victory.

Blake led the Choctaws with 23 points on 9-15 shooting.  The Oxford native had six rebounds and four steals.  Ragland had 14 points and a team-high five of the team's 22 steals.

Junior Daryl Duncan scored a season-high 16 points, going 4-6 from the three-point line.  Senior Adam Smith saw his first action of the season, coming back from injury to score eight points and pull down 10 rebounds.

Donovan Ford led the Jackets with 16 points, hitting four three-pointers.  JaKalan Gayden had a double-double with 14 points and 11 rebounds.  Brandon Gould (13 pts.) and Travis Taillet (11 pts.) also finished in double-figures.

The Choctaws will move on to face Sul Ross State at 3:00 p.m. on Saturday.  Howard Payne will host Louisiana College at the same time.