Box Score FINAL STATS

MORAGA, Calif. – The Jacksonville State men's basketball team almost overcame a big first-half run by Weber State but fell short in a 69-61 loss in the opening round of the Shamrock Office Solutions Classic on the campus of Saint Mary's College.

After watching the Wildcats (4-0) roll off a 24-3 run that gave them a 21-point advantage in the first half, the Gamecocks (2-4) outplayed the Big Sky Conference power over the final half. They cut their deficit to as few as five late in the game, but WSU was able to convert just enough to hold off JSU's upset attempt.

The Gamecocks turned it over eight times in the first half, which led to a 14-point WSU advantage in points off turnovers but turned that around in the second half. They committed just one in the second half, while forcing the Wildcats into 10 of their 14 turnovers in the final 20 minutes. JSU also held a Weber State team that shot 50 percent in the first half to a 30 percent effort in the second half, while connecting on 42 percent in the final half themselves.

Junior Ronnie Boggs had career highs in points and rebounds with nine of each in the game for the Gamecocks. The 6-foot-3 guard from Kansas City, Mo., went 4-for-7 from the floor and pulled down three offensive boards and six on the defensive glass.

Sophomore Brian Williams led JSU with 16 points in the game, 13 of which came in the second half, while junior Rinaldo Mafra scored 10 of his career-high 14 points in the second half. Mafra, a 6-foot-7 native of Recife, Brazil, was 5-for-7 from the floor and grabbed all seven of his rebounds on the defensive end. Williams, a native of Lawrenceville, Ga., dished five assists while committing no turnovers for the first time this season.

Weber State's Damian Dillard scored his season average of 23 points to lead the Wildcats. The junior from Oakland, Calif., less than an hour from Moraga, was 7-for-14 from the floor and 6-for-7 from the free throw line. Kyle Bullinger had a double-double of 11 points and 10 boards.

The Wildcats used a white-hot stretch in the first half to create a big lead that they carried into the locker room at the half. After the Gamecocks scored six-straight to tie the game at 11-11 with 14:15 to play in the half, Weber State rattled off a 24-3 run over the next 10:05 that allowed them to open up a 35-14 lead. JSU scored the next seven points to cut its deficit to 35-21 at the half.

Hall led JSU with five points despite sitting for nine of the first 20 minutes because of early foul trouble.  The Wildcats got 10 from Lillard before the intermission.

JSU extended that 7-0 run into a 13-2 stretch that carried into the second half and cut the Wildcats' lead to 10 at 37-27 less than three minutes into the half. WSU answered with a pair of treys, however, with Bullinger and Dillard stretching its lead back to 16.

The two exchanged blows before a pair of Frankie Bougher free throws with 8:35 to play cut Weber State's lead to 50-41, JSU's first single-digit deficit since the 8:50 mark of the first half. A Williams trey with 5:18 to play cut the lead to eight and then a Boggs transition layup brought the Gamecocks to within seven at 56-49 with 4:27 remaining.

After the Wildcats, who entered the game shooting 80 percent from the free throw line, converted on a few trips to the stripe, Williams and Gaines used back-to-back 3-pointers to cut their lead to five at 64-59 with just over a minute remaining. The Wildcats converted on just enough of their free throws down the stretch to hold off JSU.

The Gamecocks fall into the consolation game on Monday at 7 p.m. CT, when they will face San Francisco State, who lost to host Saint Mary's earlier Sunday.