Meridian took the lead for good five minutes into play and went on to defeat the Bobcats, 79-73. Jones falls to 9-7 overall, 4-3 in the division.

The Bobcats return home Thursday to face Copiah-Lincoln to open the second half of division play. The women's game starts at 5:30 p.m., followed by the men's game at 7:30 p.m. and both games will air on www.jcjc.tv.

Meridian hosts Pearl River on Thursday.

JCJC got off to a slow start and could never recover.

A Mason Daniels (Atlanta, Georgia) basket at 16:48 gave Jones an early 5-3 lead. But the Eagles went on a 13-0 run and took a 16-5 advantage when Kylan Hamilton made a layup at 11:27.

Elton Neal's 3-pointer from the right corner gave MCC a 23-9 lead with 8:19 remaining.

The closest the Bobcats would get the rest of the first half was 37-28 when Malik Henry (Terry) scored with 22 seconds left, but Hamilton scored with 8 seconds to play to put MCC up 39-28 at halftime.

Meridian took its longest lead of the game at 52-36 with 14:24 to play when Alex Perry made a 3-pointer.

JCJC trailed 60-47 with just less than 10 minutes remaining, but they would fight back.

The Bobcats went on a 14-4 run and closed the gap to 64-61 with 4:47 left when Daniels made a 3-pointer. However, the Eagles answered with seven straight points and went up 71-61 with 3:08 left on a Vernell Garner basket.

Winceton Edwards (Oak Grove) hit a 3-pointer from the right corner with 46.9 seconds remaining to make it 75-70 and a 3-point play by David McCoy (Meridian) cut the lead to 77-73 with 9.4 seconds left, but the Bobcats would run out of time.

Edwards and Henry had 17 points each for the Bobcats, while McCoy added 15.

Eric Fuller had 19 points for the Eagles, 5-11 overall and 2-5 in the division. Perry had 16, Hamilton had 12 and Garner finished with 10.

MEN

Meridian 75, Jones County 70

Jones County (9-7, 4-3)          28 45 – 73

Meridian (5-11, 2-5)               39 40 – 79      

JONES COUNTY (73) – Malik Henry 17, Winceton Edwards 17, David McCoy 15, Michael Williams 6, Mason Daniels 5, Quentin Pough 4, Shemar Johnson 4, David Gaines, Jr. 3, Omar Steele 2, Kenneth Knight 0.

MERIDIAN (79) – Eric Fuller 19, Alex Perry 16, Kylan Hamilton 12, Vernell Garner 10, Timothy Lacey 8, Elton Neal 5, AJ McFarland 4, Zacarri Parker 3, Courtland Johnson 2, Tarrance Davis 0.

Shawn Wansley

Sports Information Director

Jones County Junior College