FINAL STATS

YPSILANTI, Mich. – Eastern Michigan's Derek Thompson knocked down a 3-pointer with two seconds to play to break a tie and lift the Eagles to a 63-60 win over Jacksonville State in Saturday's BracketBusters matchup.

Despite going just 13-for-25 from the free throw line and getting outrebounded by 10, The Gamecocks (5-24) were able to claw back from down nine in the final six minutes and tie it, but Thompson's lone field goal of the night was the dagger in JSU's comeback hopes.

The Eagles (8-18) got 28 points and 13 rebounds from senior Brandon Bowdry to overcome a rough night from the charity stripe on their end. They were just 13-for-28 from the free throw line, most of which came from Bowdry's 9-for-16 effort on his own. Antonio Green added 15 for EMU in the win.

Junior Stephen Hall led three JSU players in double figures with 15 points and also led the team with seven boards. Senior Nick Murphy had 11, three of which came in an old-fashioned three-point play that tied the game with 19 ticks on the clock. His night also pushed him past Keith McKellar into fourth on JSU's all-time scoring list with 1,498 career points.

Freshman Brian Williams scored 10 in the loss, while junior Leventrice Gray and freshman Brice Jenkins added eight and six off of the bench, respectively.

The Gamecocks fell in an early hole in the first half after going one stretch of 7:54 without a field goal, a drought that allowed the Eagles to build as much as a 10-point lead at 22-12 with 5:23 remaining in the half.

JSU would put together a run of its own from that point to draw to within three at 25-22, but an Antonio Green 3-pointer with 10 seconds on the clock gave EMU a 28-22 lead at the intermission.

The Gamecocks pulled to within as few as three points around the halfway point of the second half, but the Eagles always seemed to find an answer. They took advantage of a four-minute drought from the floor by JSU to stretch the lead to their largest of the second half, a 53-44 advantage with 6:07 to play, before five in a row from senior Jeremy Bynum sparked a 6-0 JSU run that brought the Gamecocks back to within three with just under four minutes remaining in the game.

Bowdry made just one of his two free throws with 3:47 to play and the Gamecocks answered with buckets by Murphy and Hall to tie the game at 54-54 for the first time since it was 2-2 early in the first half.

Darrell Lampley and Hall exchanged buckets to push it to 56-56 with 52 seconds to play, when Bowdry went to the line and made both of his attempts. Just nine seconds later, Hall made one of his two attempts from the stripe, allowing Bowdry to put the Eagles up by three with a slam.

Murphy tied it up again with 19 seconds left after a left-handed runner fell and a Jay Higgins foul set up the old-fashioned three-point play. EMU held the ball for the final shot, the game winner by Thompson in the right corner, his only make from the floor on the night.

The Gamecocks will wrap up the 2010-11 season on Saturday, when they travel to Cookeville, Tenn., to face Tennessee Tech. Tipoff is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. CT.