Box Score

COOKEVILLE, Tenn. – It seemed all odds were against the Jacksonville State men's basketball team on Thursday night, but the Gamecocks got an old-fashioned 3-point play from Dion Waiters at the horn to upend Tennessee Tech 63-62 at the Eblen Center.

The Gamecocks (7-14, 2-6 OVC), who dressed just nine players and played just eight against a Golden Eagles (11-8, 3-3 OVC) team that was picked to finish second in the Ohio Valley Conference this season, trailed by four with less than 15 seconds to play but found a way to pull it out.

After a 3-pointer by sophomore Brian Williams cut the deficit to one with eight seconds left. The OVC's leading scorer, Kevin Murphy, converted on just one of is two free throws on the other end, setting up JSU's game-winning play.

Freshman sharpshooter Darion Rackley, who had 11 points on the night, had the ball on the right wing but found Waiters on the baseline after the Golden Eagle defense collapsed on him. Waiters drove and drew the foul from Terrell Barnes with one second on the clock, converted the layup and then sank his free throw to hand JSU its first road win of the season.

JSU's lineup was thinned to eight available players after injuries and personnel issues, and six guys played 23 or more minutes against a TTU team that entered the game with the OVC's leader in scoring, rebounding, assists and steals.

Murphy, the league's leading scorer, managed just seven points after going 2-for-8 from the floor. The output tied the second-lowest for him this season. The league's top rebounder, Jud Dillard, had a huge night, scoring 21 points and working for 13 rebounds to lead his team to a 37-24 advantage on the glass.

JSU wouldn't go away in its attempt to snap a 13-game road losing streak, trailing by as many as six in the final minutes.

Waiters ended the night with nine points, making him one of six Gamecocks with seven or more. Junior Tarvin Gaines scored 13 of his team-high 15 points in the first half, but foul trouble kept him in check in the fainal 20 minutes. Williams added 10 for the Gamecocks, while junior Ronnie Boggs and sophomore Nick Cook each had seven in the win.
The Golden Eagles ran a “Blizzard” promotion, where they provided fans with toilet paper and encouraged them to throw it after their first basket of the game. When Dennis Ogbe made a layup 40 seconds into the game, the paper flew, some of which landed on the floor and forced officials to call a technical foul on the home team. Gaines made both free throws to even the score early on and give JSU what turned out to be two big points.

The first half saw five ties and three lead changes, the last of which was taken by the Gamecocks on a 22-7 run that gave them a 37-25 lead with 3:34 left before the break. The Golden Eagles pulled a little closer by scoring the final four points of the half but trailed by eight at the intermission.

Gaines led all players with 13 points in the first 20 minutes, while a pair of 3-pointers gave Rackley nine. JSU shot 5-for-11 from behind the arc in the first half and limited TTU to just three attempts from outside, all misses. Murphy took just two shots in the half and scored just three points.

The Gamecocks hit a cold spell to start the second half and TTU took advantage, opening the final frame with a 21-7 run that gave the Golden Eagles their first lead since the 10:00 mark of the first half at 46-44.

The Gamecocks held TTU to just five field goals over the first 14 minutes of the second half, but the free throw line was kind to the home team. The Golden Eagles made 14 of their first 17 free throws of the half to build a six-point lead at 54-48.

The Gamecocks scored six in a row to tie it at 54-54 on a Grant White layup with just under three minutes to play, but TTU went right back to the free throw line to pull back ahead. After a Cook miss and a Terrell Barnes bucket, Rackley sank a runner to cut it to two and Dion Waiters made the front end of his one-and-one attempts to pull JSU to within a point with 1:02 to play.

Dillard answered for the Golden Eagles to give them a 60-57 lead with 30 ticks on the clock. A Grant White turnover set up a pair of free throws from Murphy, only one of which he made, that gave TTU a 61-57 lead.

Williams knocked down his second 3-pointer of the night with seven seconds left, and Gaines fouled out to send Murphy to the stripe with 6.8 seconds to play. The league's leading scorer made one of his attempts, setting up Waiters' game winning play.

The Gamecocks will take a week off before returning home, where they will play their next three games and seven of their final 10. The stretch begins Thursday with a 7 p.m. game vs. Eastern Illinois, which will be followed by a Saturday game vs. SIU-Edwardsville at 4:30 p.m.