Gamecocks' 69-62 Win Eliminates Troy State
2/28/2002 3:49:00 PM | Men's Basketball
ORLANDO, Fla - Omar Barlett and Jay Heard scored 19 points each to lead Jacksonville State to an impressive 69-62 win over Troy State to eliminate the Trojans from the post-season in the first round of the Atlantic Sun Conference/Coca-Cola Basketball Championships Thursday afternoon.
Junior Poonie Richardson finished with 16 points and Josh Perry came off the bench to score 13 points for Jax State, which won its first-ever post-season game since moving to Division I in 1995-96.
"I thought the kids really came out and executed our game plan about as well as we could've asked," said JSU head coach Mike LaPlante. "I thought we played with a lot of energy. I thought we came right out of the gate as the more aggressive team."
Jax State jumped out to a 7-0 lead over the first three minutes of the game behind five points by Barlett and a lay-up by Emerson Brown. Troy State came back to take their first lead of the night on a baseline jumper by Robert Rushing at the 11:44 mark as the Trojans held a 13-12 advantage.
The Gamecocks battled back and used a 10-2 run over the final five minutes of the first half to hold a 30-29 lead at the intermission. JSU held a 19-9 advantage on the boards at the half and didn't allow a single offensive rebound.
In the final 20 minutes, Jax State had its second best shooting half of the season, hitting 68.8 percent (11-of-16) from the field.
Troy State managed to tie the score at 38-38 on Ben Fletcher's 3-pointer with 16:52 left, but the Trojans were never able to get the lead.
Back-to-back 3-pointers by Richardson and Heard, followed by a free throw by Barlett pushed JSU's lead to 45-38 at the 14:34 mark. Troy State pulled to within 59-56 at the 2:27 mark, but JSU sank 10-of-12 free throws over the final :56 to seal the win.
Lamayn Wilson led Troy State with 20 points, followed by Donnie Pemberton's 14 points and Rushing scored 11. The Gamecocks held a 33-18 advantage on the boards.
Jax State will play in the semi-finals on Friday night at 7:15 vs the Jacksonville University/Florida Atlantic winner. The A-Sun Tournament champion receives the league's automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament.
HEAD COACH MIKE LaPLANTE POST-GAME QUOTES
"I thought the kids really came out and executed our game plan about as well as we could've asked. I thought they played with a lot of energy. I thought we came right out of the gate as the more aggressive team. I think from a momentum stand point and a confidence stand point, anytime you can get a lead against a team that has handled you in other games, you get some confidence."
"We didn't change our game plan on how we wanted to play them, in fact, we had a couple of things in our bag of tricks that we never had to use. We just tried to play our similar defense. "
"I thought we really wanted to control the tempo of the game on offense. We were trying to shorten the game a little bit. What we've seen a lot of teams do against that zone. You come down and shoot the ball in the first 10 seconds, then they (Troy) come down and play quick, which is playing their tempo. What we were trying to do is hold the ball and make their defense have to work and if they wanted to come down and shoot it quick, we wanted to make them play defense again for 15-20 seconds before we took a shot. I think the shots you end up getting against that zone is the same in the first 10 seconds as in the last 10 seconds, so you might as well make them expend some energy. I think it might have helped us defensively. They were a little more fatigued."
JSU NOTES:
-- JSU snaps a three-game losing streak vs Troy State
-- JSU is now 4-1 vs the Trojans in Post-season action
-- JSU recorded its first-ever Division I post-season win
-- The Gamecocks 68.8 percent in the second half was the second best shooting half of the season (70.4 of 2nd half vs Belmont)
-- JSU is now 1-2 in the A-Sun Tournament
-- JSU has now shot better than 50.0 percent in 9-of-28 games this season
-- The Gamecocks has out-rebounded their opponents in 18-of-28 games
-- Poonie Richardson has scored in double-figures in 19 of last 21 games
Junior Poonie Richardson finished with 16 points and Josh Perry came off the bench to score 13 points for Jax State, which won its first-ever post-season game since moving to Division I in 1995-96.
"I thought the kids really came out and executed our game plan about as well as we could've asked," said JSU head coach Mike LaPlante. "I thought we played with a lot of energy. I thought we came right out of the gate as the more aggressive team."
Jax State jumped out to a 7-0 lead over the first three minutes of the game behind five points by Barlett and a lay-up by Emerson Brown. Troy State came back to take their first lead of the night on a baseline jumper by Robert Rushing at the 11:44 mark as the Trojans held a 13-12 advantage.
The Gamecocks battled back and used a 10-2 run over the final five minutes of the first half to hold a 30-29 lead at the intermission. JSU held a 19-9 advantage on the boards at the half and didn't allow a single offensive rebound.
In the final 20 minutes, Jax State had its second best shooting half of the season, hitting 68.8 percent (11-of-16) from the field.
Troy State managed to tie the score at 38-38 on Ben Fletcher's 3-pointer with 16:52 left, but the Trojans were never able to get the lead.
Back-to-back 3-pointers by Richardson and Heard, followed by a free throw by Barlett pushed JSU's lead to 45-38 at the 14:34 mark. Troy State pulled to within 59-56 at the 2:27 mark, but JSU sank 10-of-12 free throws over the final :56 to seal the win.
Lamayn Wilson led Troy State with 20 points, followed by Donnie Pemberton's 14 points and Rushing scored 11. The Gamecocks held a 33-18 advantage on the boards.
Jax State will play in the semi-finals on Friday night at 7:15 vs the Jacksonville University/Florida Atlantic winner. The A-Sun Tournament champion receives the league's automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament.
HEAD COACH MIKE LaPLANTE POST-GAME QUOTES
"I thought the kids really came out and executed our game plan about as well as we could've asked. I thought they played with a lot of energy. I thought we came right out of the gate as the more aggressive team. I think from a momentum stand point and a confidence stand point, anytime you can get a lead against a team that has handled you in other games, you get some confidence."
"We didn't change our game plan on how we wanted to play them, in fact, we had a couple of things in our bag of tricks that we never had to use. We just tried to play our similar defense. "
"I thought we really wanted to control the tempo of the game on offense. We were trying to shorten the game a little bit. What we've seen a lot of teams do against that zone. You come down and shoot the ball in the first 10 seconds, then they (Troy) come down and play quick, which is playing their tempo. What we were trying to do is hold the ball and make their defense have to work and if they wanted to come down and shoot it quick, we wanted to make them play defense again for 15-20 seconds before we took a shot. I think the shots you end up getting against that zone is the same in the first 10 seconds as in the last 10 seconds, so you might as well make them expend some energy. I think it might have helped us defensively. They were a little more fatigued."
JSU NOTES:
-- JSU snaps a three-game losing streak vs Troy State
-- JSU is now 4-1 vs the Trojans in Post-season action
-- JSU recorded its first-ever Division I post-season win
-- The Gamecocks 68.8 percent in the second half was the second best shooting half of the season (70.4 of 2nd half vs Belmont)
-- JSU is now 1-2 in the A-Sun Tournament
-- JSU has now shot better than 50.0 percent in 9-of-28 games this season
-- The Gamecocks has out-rebounded their opponents in 18-of-28 games
-- Poonie Richardson has scored in double-figures in 19 of last 21 games
Sunday, May 17
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