Fulton, Miss. — Jones College continued its postseason run with a 93-77 victory over Southwest on Tuesday night at Itawamba’s Davis Event Center. The win secures the Bobcats a spot in their fourth straight NJCAA Region 23 Championship Game.
Jones, which avenged a regular-season loss to Southwest, led wire-to-wire after scoring the first nine points. The Bobcats held a nine-point lead at halftime and expanded it to as many as 22 in the second half. Southwest cut the lead to 26-25 with 4:20 left in the first quarter, but Jones responded with an 11-4 run to take a 41-32 advantage into halftime.
Highlights of the second half included a series of dunks and a four-point play by Wesley Lindsey. Braylon Barnes led all scorers with 26 points, including 15 in the second half, while going a perfect 12-for-12 from the free-throw line. Lindsey scored a season-high 17 points, and Dylan Rowe nearly achieved a triple-double with 19 points, nine assists and nine rebounds. Bob Dickson added 12 points, and Jay Tyler finished with 11 points, seven assists and six rebounds.
Jones shot 49% from the field for the game. The team will face No. 25 Itawamba on Thursday at 6 p.m. for the regional title and an automatic bid to Hutchinson, Kansas. Itawamba defeated Jones 75-74 earlier this season, snapping the Bobcats’ 19-game MACCC winning streak.
Southwest’s statistics were not available at the time of this report.
