Rams Topple Top-Seed Tougaloo 66-55

JACKSON, Miss— The University of Mobile men’s basketball team upset top-seeded Tougaloo College 66-55 Thursday evening to advance to the Semifinals of the GCAC Tournament.

Tougaloo entered with three of the GCAC’s top nine scorers, but the Rams used a stout defense to control the tempo, beginning with a solid opening half that saw Mobile take a 32-20. The Rams held the Bulldogs to 30% from the field and limited GCAC Player of the Year Jermaine Hodges to only 1 point, while dominating inside. Twenty-six of Mobile’s points came in the paint or at the charity stripe after forcing the issue inside. Sasa Lazic and Matthew Turner combined for 11 early points inside to give Mobile a 14-4 edge.

The tempo-setting first half also saw the Rams hold Tougaloo to 2-of-11 from behind the arch, and the period went scoreless over the final 3:40.

After Tougaloo rallied to cut the lead to 16-14, Mobile answered with an 11-0 run thanks to 7 points from Donte Walker.

In the second half, it was the Brock Dockery show for the second straight game. The freshman from Bonifay, FL tallied 17 of his game-high 21 points in the final half while going 5-of-5 from the floor and 3-of-3 from the three-point line. Mobile also out rebounded the Bulldogs 18-8 in the final half and shot 57% from the floor. Dockery's performance comes on the heels of a 24-point effort in Mobile's opening-round win after averaging 6 points per game in the regular season.

After early turnovers and fouls by Mobile pulled Tougaloo within 42-35, Dockery scored 13 points over the next 5 minutes to build a 57-43 Mobile lead with 4:54 remaining. Tougaloo cut the lead to 60-54 with 2:13 remaining, but could only manage one more point. The Rams held on in the final half despite turning the ball over 13 times and allowing 6 deep balls from the Buldogs, including 3 to Keith Fisher.

Carlos Hughes and Treii Pace added 9 points apiece for Mobile. The Rams advance to the GCAC Semifinals Saturday at 7 pm at Spring Hill.