No. 18 Bulldogs Take Down Rams 76-55

MOBILE, Ala-- The 18th-ranked Tougaloo College Bulldogs defeated the University of Mobile 76-55 in NAIA men's basketball action Thursday evening at Pharr Gym.

The Rams (12-14, 8-7) hos rival Spring Hill (12-10, 6-8) Saturday at 7 pm.

Antonio Hester led Mobile with 17 points, 14 rebounds and 6 blocks, Ji Kimbrough added 12 points and Cody Scott tallied 11 points and 9 boards off the bench for the Rams.

The NAIA's 5th-leading scorer, Marquise Mems, led Tougaloo with 23 points, while Donteeno Todd added 21 points for the Bulldogs. James Carter pulled down 17 boards.

Tougaloo out shot Mobile 37% to 30% from the floor and 35% (8-of-23) to 24% (4-of-17) from 3-point range.

UMobile held an early 6-3 lead in the opening half thanks to six points from Hester, but Tougaloo answered with an 18-5 run to grab a 21-11 lead with 11:19 remaining. Mems checked in for the first time at the 11:19 mark and scored the Bulldogs' next 10 points to push it to 31-16 with 7:47 left. Tougaloo took a 41-30 lead into the break.

The second half saw the Bulldogs score the first nine points, five from Horace Whitehead, and take a 20-point lead just 2:43 into the period. From there, Mobile could get no closer than 13 points and trailed by as many as 24.