Box Score FINAL STATS

NEW ORLEANS – The Jacksonville State men's basketball team came to life in the last nine minutes on Saturday and slipped past Southern for a 55-50 win in the Gamecocks' first game of the Tulane Skip Prosser Tournament.

After the Gamecocks (3-6) struggled from the floor in the first half and watched the Jaguars (3-6) open the second half by making seven of their first eight shots to build a seven-point lead, JSU finally put together a run of its own. It finished the game and snapped its four-game losing streak with a 20-8 advantage.

JSU shot just under 30 percent from the floor in the game but used its defense to force 20 Jaguar turnovers and limit Southern to a 37 percent effort from the field. The Gamecocks turned it over just nine times, seven below their season average, and converted the Jaguars' miscues into a 20-2 advantage in points off turnovers.

Junior Tarvin Gaines scored 12 points, eight in the second half, while senior Stephen Hall managed 13 despite a 4-for-15 night from the floor. Hall, a forward from Birmingham, grabbed nine boards to fall just one rebounds shy of a double-double. Sophomore Nick Cook came off of the bench to grab 11 boards, four better than his previous career high in which he set last season.

Sophomore forward Brian Williams scored eight points, all in the final eight minutes of the game, while freshman Darion Rackley pitched in five in his first career start. Williams, a native of Lawrenceville, Ga., also dished five of the team's 11 assists without committing a turnover.

Tha Jaguars were led by Derick Beltran's 20 points, and Quinton Doggett's nine boards paced SU to a 42-36 advantage on the glass.

JSU was just 5-for-17 from behind the 3-point line but all five came in a 46-percent second half from behind the arc. Beltran made both of Southern's treys in the team's nine attaempts.

The first half was a sloppy one, with both teams combining to shoot 28 percent from the floor and 1-for-8 from behind the 3-point line. Beltran made the lone trey in the half and it proved to be the difference in the half, giving the Jaguars a 21-20 lead at the intermission.

Beltran's nine points led all players, while Hall had eight despite a 4-for-10 shooting half to lead JSU. Cook tied his previous career high of seven rebounds in just 10 minutes of action off of the bench in the first half.

The half started with a JSU bucket that was followed by an 11-0 Southern run that gave the Jaguars a nine-point lead within the game's first six minutes. JSU slowly cut into the deficit before finally tying the game for the first time on a Ronnie Boggs layup with 2:22 on the clock that evened the score at 17-17.

A Mason Leggett free throw at the 1:05 mark gave JSU its first lead in 17 minutes at 18-17. The two teams would exchange leads three more times before a Fredrick Coleman lay in with 44 seconds before the half gave his Jaguars the one-point advantage.

JSU started cold in the second half, while Southern opened by making seven of its first eight shots from the floor to build a seven-point lead with 9:24 to play.

The Gamecocks scored the next nine points to take a 44-42 lead, their first advantage since there were 45 seconds to play in the first half. After that hot shooting start to the half, the Jags went 7:44 without a field goal, allowing JSU to build a 48-44 lead with just under three minutes to play.

The Jags answered with a Cameron Monroe jumper to cut their deficit to two, but JSU answered with a Williams trey and then saw Gaines draw a charging foul to set up a pair of Rackley points that stretched the lead to 53-46 with just 44 seconds to play.

JSU will conclude the tournament on Sunday at 7 p.m., when the Gamecocks face host Tulane. Airtime on the Gamecock Sports Network will be 6:30 p.m.