FINAL STATS  |  PHOTO GALLERY

JACKSONVILLE – Three players scored in double figures for the Jacksonville State men's basketball team on Thursday night, when the Gamecocks pulled away with a 77-66 exhibition win over West Georgia at Pete Mathews Coliseum.

JSU used most of its new-look roster and got production across the board. Of the 12 players that saw the floor, eight made their debut in a JSU uniform and true freshman Darion Rackley made the biggest splash. The 6-foot-2 guard from St. Louis, Mo., came off of the bench and scored 16 points in 16 minutes, thanks to a 5-for-7 night from the floor that saw him drain all four attempts from beyond the 3-point line.

“I was very pleased with our overall effort tonight,” JSU head coach James Green said. “I thought we had a good bit of energy and made some things happen. I thought everyone contributed tonight and that's a very encouraging thing for us. We still have a lot of work to do, but tonight was a step in the right direction.”

Senior Stephen Hall, the team's lone player with more than one year of Division I experience under his belt, joined Rackley in double figures. The 6-foot-6 Birmingham native was 7-for-11 from the floor for 15 points and grabbed eight of the Gamecocks' 33 rebounds in 27 minutes of action.

Sophomore point guard Brian Williams ran a JSU offense that shot 52 percent from the floor, a percentage that would have been the Gamecocks' third-highest in a game in all of last season. The Lawrenceville, Ga., native played 30 minutes and dished eight assists in a game that saw ball movement create 25 assists on 29 made field goals. The 6-foot-1 guard also scored 10 points.

Junior forward Rinaldo Mafra added eight points in the post in his debut for the Gamecocks, while his teammate from a year ago at Southeastern Community College in Iowa, guard Mason Leggett grabbed six boards and dished three assists on a night where he struggled to go 0-for-6 from the floor.

The Gamecocks led the Wolves from wire-to-wire, grabbing an early 7-0 lead and eventually pushing it to a 13-point advantage early in the first half. UWG would battle back to trail just 37-31 at the half and would crawl to within three points in the first three minutes of the second half, but JSU broke it open from there.

A fast-break lay in by Rackley with 16:04 to play sparked an 11-3 Jax State run that opened up a 52-41 lead. West Georgia would never get closer than nine the rest of the way.

The Wolves were led by Gavin Field's 19 points and Brett Seljak's seven boards. They shot just 34 percent from the floor in the second half and were only 6-for-22 from behind the 3-point line in the game, while JSU knocked down six treys in 16 attempts.

The Gamecocks will return to the floor on Monday, when they play their final exhibition game against Oakwood at 7 p.m. at Pete Mathews Coliseum before opening the regular season Nov. 11 against Miles College. Admission is free to Monday's exhibition game.