CLINTON, Miss. - Mississippi College shot 50 percent from the floor and forced Valdosta State into 17 turnovers as the Choctaws defeated the Blazers 72-66 in Gulf South Conference men's basketball action Saturday.

The game was tight throughout as neither team led by more than seven points while the game featured six ties and 23 lead changes.

Mississippi College (4-4, 2-4) raced out to an early lead as it scored seven of the game's first nine points only to have Valdosta State (7-5, 2-4) fight back to grab its first lead of the game at 10-9 with 14:54 to play in the first half.

The remainder of the first half saw the lead change hands 11 times, with the Blazers grabbing their largest lead at 15-11 while MC scored the final six points of the half to lead 36-31 at the intermission.

The Choctaws connected on their first two field goal attempts of the second half to twice build its largest lead fo the game at seven points, but Valdosta State continued to fight back and used a 12-4 run to eventually grab the lead at 45-44 on a three-pointer by Jeff Nibo with 13:48 to play.

Back-to-back three-pointers by Jay Watkins eventually gave VSU its largest lead of the game 11:33 to go as VSU built a 53-48 advantage, but Mississippi College responded with the next six points of the ball game to once again take the lead with just over seven minutes to play. The next six minutes saw two lead changes and three ties before MC went on the game-deciding run.

With the score tied at 66-66 with less than 90 seconds to play, Rayner Fredrick contributed a put-back bucket to put MC in front and, after a Valdosta State turnover, Emmanuel Ezejiofo added two free throws. A missed field goal attempt by VSU followed and Fredrick contributed two more free throws to close out the scoring.

Blake Justice hit five three-pointers and scored 15 points to lead Valdosta State in scoring while James Spencer added 12 points on 6-of-9 shooting. Jeremiah Hill added 11 points and Colin Cook 10 as Valdosta State made 26 of its 59 field goal attempts to shoot 46.7 percent from the floor. However, the Blazers committed 17 turnovers and, after entering the game forcing more than 17 a game, forced MC into just 10. The Choctaws also owned a 15-3 advantage in free throws made.

Valdosta State takes the next two weeks off before returning home to The Complex to face Christian Brothers on Saturday, January 3 at 8:00 p.m.