MOBILE, Ala. - Marcus Bates Jr rebounded a missed shot and scored with less than 30 seconds to play to give Stillman College a 65-64 victory over No. 19 University of Mobile to close the regular season Saturday in Pharr Gym. 

Bates' basket capped a 9-0 run in the final three minutes to rally Stillman out of an eight-point hole, 64-56. In addition to the winning points, Bates had four rebounds and a steal in the final three minutes. Ezra McKenna's desperation 3 at the buzzer was off the mark. 

Stillman led by as many as eight points, 16-8, early in the first half, but Mobile quickly flipped the score to lead, 26-18. The Tigers trailed 40-32 at halftime, but a Justin Minter layup around the 11 minute mark cut it to a three-point game, 50-47. Both teams traded baskets before Mobile used a 6-0 run to go back up by nine points, 58-40. Mobile led by 11 points, 62-51, with 5:41 to play before a Minter layup sparked a 14-2 rally in the final 5:30 of action. Brenden Lankford-Johnson blocked a Trent Moye jumper with 1:03 to play and grabbed the rebound to set up Antonio Jones' layup that made it a one-point game, 64-63. Bates grabbed the rebound off a missed UM layup and then off a missed Lankford-Johnson 3-pointer to set up his eventual winning layup. 

Minter led all players in the first half, scoring 16 of his game-high 24 points. Bates finished with 11 points, as did Bailey Talley, who also had 14 rebounds for his twelfth double-double of the season. He finished SSAC play with a double-double in nine of 20 conference games. 

Stillman out-rebounded Mobile by two, 39-37, 

DaMariee Jones led Mobile with 20 points and 11 rebounds, while Ezra McKenna followed with 14 points and 13 rebounds. Treylan Smith scored 16 and Sage McKenna had 11 points. 

Stillman finishes the regular season 19-8 and 16-4 in the Southern States Athletic Conference. The Tigers won 13 of their last 15 games since a December 16 loss at home to Mobile.

Finishing with a two-game lead over third-place Life University, Stillman will be the No. 2 seed in the 2024 SSAC Men's Basketball Championship, presented by Newk's Eatery. Stillman will play the winner of Loyola and Middle Georgia on Thursday, Feb. 29 at 2:15 p.m. at the Multiplex at Cramton Bowl in Montgomery, Alabama.