Box Score

JACKSONVILLE – Jacksonville State notched its first Ohio Valley Conference win of the season with a 72-65 win over Tennessee State on Saturday at Pete Mathews Coliseum in men's college basketball action.

The win snapped a four-game losing streak for JSU and claimed its second-straight win over the Tigers at Pete Mathews Coliseum.  Last season, Jax State knocked off TSU in overtime, 76-73.  The Gamecocks improved to 6-12 on the season and 1-4 in league games. 

The Gamecocks put together a complete first half as they knocked down an impressive 57 percent from the field and 4-of7 from beyond the three-point arc.  JSU limited the Tigers to just 7-of-23 from the field in the first 20 minutes and exposed TSU's poor shooting to build a double digit lead near the midway point of the first half at 18-8.  The Gamecocks eventually extended the lead out to as many as 17 points at the halftime break after Stephen Hall drained a three-pointer with two ticks left in the opening half to give Jax State 39-22 lead after one half.  The 17-point edge at halftime matched JSU's largest lead at intermission this season.  The Gamecocks held a 30-17 lead at USC Upstate earlier this season.

JSU pushed the lead out to a game-high 20 points at 46-26 after the first 6:20 of the second half and looked in control of the contest.  TSU started to make its run after the Gamecocks took the 20-point lead and put together a 16-5 scoring run over the next five minutes to get the deficit down to single digits at 51-42.  The Tigers would slice the deficit down to as many as five points on multiple occasions down the stretch, but the Gamecocks were able to thwart the comeback.  JSU extended the lead back out to 11 points at 61-50 with 1:46 left in the game, but could not seal the victory just yet as the Tigers clawed their way back to within five points with just ten seconds left in the contest.

After a stellar first half from the field in the first 20 minutes, JSU connected on 8-of-20 from the field in the second half to post a 50 percent shooting night.  The Red and White finished 17-of-25 from the free throw line in the second half alone and concluded the game 20-of-29 from the charity stripe. 

Sophomore Brian Williams led all scorers with 17 points in 37 minutes of activity.  The Lawrenceville, Ga.-native hit 6-of-13 from the field and 4-of-6 from the free throw line.  He also had four rebounds and three assists.  Junior Ronnie Boggs contributed 12 points on the night, including ten of those 12 in the first 20 minutes.  Junior Dion Waiters came off the bench for ten points and three assists.  Stephen Hall and Brian Williams finished with nine points each.  Hall led all Gamecocks on the boards with seven.  Grant White added eight points off the bench.

TSU was paced by Robert Covington's 15 points and eight rebounds.

JSU begins a three-game road swing on Thursday, Jan. 12 as it visits nationally ranked Murray State.  Tip off is set for 7 p.m. and can be heard on the Gamecock Sports Network.