Box Score

JACKSONVILLE – The Jacksonville State men's basketball team put together a comeback effort on Saturday night but Eastern Kentucky held off the Gamecocks from the free throw line and escaped Pete Mathews Coliseum with a 59-53 win to open Ohio Valley Conference play.

The Gamecocks (3-8, 0-1 OVC) trailed the Colonels (7-5, 1-0 OVC) by as many as 11 points in the second half but battled back to tie it before EKU built its lead by to nine with less than six minutes to play. JSU rallied again, getting to within two at the 3:42 mark and pulled as close as one in the final minute, but the Colonels converted from the line. They made five of their last six and 20-of-24 on the night to account for the difference in the game.

Sophomore Brian Williams led JSU with 11 points and dished a game-high eight assists. Fellow sophomore Nick Cook added nine points and grabbed a game-high nine boards to lead JSU to a 30-26 advantage in the rebound column. They also outscored the Colonels in the paint, 34-28, on a night that saw three JSU post players out with injuries. Senior Stephen Hall, junior Tarvin Gaines and junior Terrence Turner all missed the game.

The Gamecocks made more field goals, more 3-points field goals and pulled in more rebounds than the Colonels, but the difference came at the line. EKU made more free throws than the Gamecocks shot and had a nine-point advantage strictly from the charity stripe.

Jaron Jones made more out of the free throw line, going 12-for-14 to accaount for all but four of his 16 points. Joshua Jones was 7-for-12 from the floor to lead all scorers with 17, while his eight boards were a team high. Eric Stutz got off just one shot in the second half but managed to finish the night with 15 points, thanks to a 13-point first half. The trio combined for all but 11 of the Colonels' points.

For JSU, sophomore Frankie Bougher added nine points for JSU, while junior Mason Leggett pitched in eight. Cook blocked three EKU shots, while Williams recorded a pair of blocks.

JSU will wrap up  a brief two-game homestand on Monday with a non-conference game against Reinhardt at 7 p.m. General admission tickets are just $1.