FINAL STATS

JACKSONVILLE – The Jacksonville State men's basketball team used a dominant performance to cruise to a 98-49 win over Berry College on Tuesday night in the Gamecocks' first action in 10 days.

The Gamecocks (7-3) shot 59 percent from the floor and pulled in 19 more rebounds than the Vikings (8-6) in handing them the fourth-most lopsided defeat in Pete Mathews Coliseum's 35-year history. Five JSU players scored in double figures on a night that saw the Gamecocks outduel their opponent in every area of the game.

Freshman John Barnes scored a career-high 16 points to pace the Gamecocks, who had all nine players that saw the floor record at least one point. Senior Jonathan Toles and sophomore Nick Murphy each scored 15 points, while freshmen Geddes Robinson and Brandon Crawford pitched in 13 and 12, respectively.

Murphy, a native of Bronx, N.Y., continued his recent hot streak in the game, adding four assists, a career-high five steals and three boards in a season-high 35 minutes of action. In his last five games, Murphy is averaging a team-best 15.4 points, while also grabbing 5.2 rebounds per game.

The win, which snapped the Gamecocks' two-game skid, was bolstered by a 37-12 advantage in JSU's favor in points off of turnovers, thanks to 22 takeaways. Jax State also outscored the Vikings in the paint, 54-28, while scoring 27 fast break points to Berry's six. JSU grabbed 42 rebounds to Berry's 23, leading to a 22-4 advantage in second-chance points.

Berry was led by Lee Trebotich, who scored nine points and claimed seven rebounds in 17 minutes off of the bench. Chris Clark added eight in the losing effort for the Vikings.

The Gamecocks led by just one at 19-18 with 6:32 to play in the first half, before a 24-5 JSU run the rest of the way led to a 43-23 halftime advantage. The Gamecocks would go on to score the first 10 points of the second half to set the tone for the rest of the night in a game that they would eventually lead by as many as 53 points in the final minutes.

JSU will get back to Ohio Valley Conference action on Saturday, when the Gamecocks host Eastern Illinois at 7:30 p.m. at Pete Mathews Coliseum in a game that will be televised live on ESPNU. The game will be the second in a doubleheader with the JSU women, who take on EIU at 5 p.m., a game that will also be on ESPNU. Saturday's game will be “Dollar To Holler” night at Pete Mathews Coliseum, and all general admission tickets will be $1 at the Coliseum Ticket Window prior to the game.