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JACKSONVILLE – Trenton Marshall tied his career-high with 25 points, while Nick Murphy scored 23 points and grabbed 10 rebounds to lead Jacksonville State to an 83-72 Ohio Valley Conference win in the conference opener for both teams on Saturday.

Murphy was a perfect 6-for-6 from the field and 10-of-10 from the free throw line to record his second double-double of the season and seventh of his career.

The two teams battled through seven lead changes and six ties in the first 20 minutes of the game as neither team led by more than four points as Jax State (3-4, 1-0 OVC) held a 13-9 lead when Murphy sank his only 3-pointer with 13:56 left in the half.

Tennessee Tech (3-6, 0-1) used a 14-6 run over the next six minutes to take its largest lead of the half when Riley Hunley scored on a tip-in with 7:19 left to give the Golden Eagles a 23-19 lead.

Marshall sank a pair of free throws with 5.1 seconds left in the first half to tie the game at 35-35 at the intermission.

Jax State scored the first eight points of the second half to jump out to a 45-37 lead after Jar-R Strowbridge sank a 3-pointer from the top of the key with 17:19 left, but Tech battled back to slice the lead to 47-46 when Terrell Barnes scored inside with 13:17 remaining.

The Gamecocks then scored 10 straight points to build a 57-46 lead after Jeremy Byrum sank a 15-foot baseline jumper with 10:42 left to take control of the game. JSU led by as many as 14 points over the final 10 minutes of the game, and Tech never got the deficit to less than seven points.

Jacksonville State shot 63.6 percent from the field (14-of-22) over the final 20 minutes, while holding Tech to just 40 percent shooting enroute to the win.

Elijah Muhammad and Kevin Murphy each scored 13 points to lead Tennessee Tech, while Frank Davis tossed in 12 and Bassey Inameti came off the bench to score 11 points.

The Gamecocks will be in exams this week and returns to action on Saturday, Dec. 12, against Reinhardt. Tipoff is set for 4:30 p.m. at Pete Mathews Coliseum.