Box Score PHOTO GALLERY  l  FINAL STATS



NASHVILLE – The Jacksonville State men's basketball team scored the last eight points over the final 79 seconds on Wednesday night to pull off a thrilling 75-70 win over Austin Peay in the first round of the Ohio Valley Conference Basketball Championship.

The biggest basket came with 33 seconds left on the clock, when sophomore Brian Williams buried a 3-pointer from the right wing that erased a two-point deficit and propelled the seventh-seeded Gamecocks (15-17) to their second OVC Tournament win in program history and their second win over the sixth-seeded Governors (12-20) in 19 all-time meetings.

The win lifts the Gamecocks into Thursday's quarterfinals, where third-seeded Morehead State awaits at 8 p.m. The winner of that game will get No. 2 seed Tennessee State in Friday's semifinal.

Williams scored 18 points, all in the second half to lead JSU in the scoring column. He was joined by three other Gamecocks in double figures, a group that included 16 points from freshman Darion Rackley. The St. Louis, Mo., native had nine in the first half. He went 5-for-5 from the free throw line, grabbed a pair of rebounds, dished three assists and swiped a pair of steals.

Junior Ronnie Boggs added 11 points but did most of his damage on the glass. The Kansas City, Mo., native pulled in six of his team-high eight rebounds from the offensive glass and helped an undersized JSU squad to an even 32-32 night on the glass. Sophomore Nick Cook added seven rebounds to go along with six points inside. Junior Tarvin Gaines was the other JSU player in double figures with 12 points.

Peay had a different star in each half, getting 19 points from Tyshwaun Edmondson in the first half and 15 from Melvin Baker in the second half. Edmonson was shut down by JSU in the second half, making just one basket for three points to give him a game-high 22. Baker finished with 20 points and a career-high 13 rebounds.

The two teams battled to an even 42-42 night in points in the paint, while JSU forced 17 Peay turnovers that led to a 23-18 advantage in points. The Gamecocks also had 10 fast break points to just two on the other end.

Jacksonville State controlled the tempo early on, slowing it down before using a 12-1 run to build a 14-8 lead just over eight minutes into the game. The Gamecocks held onto their lead as Peay slowly cut into it, but a 17-6 Govs run to close the half gave them a 39-31 lead at the intermission.

Edmondson was almost unstoppable in the first 20 minutes, scoring 19 points, including a stretch of 10 straight at one point.

Rackley led JSU with nine early points, while Gaines added eight.

The Gamecocks opened the second half with a 13-4 run that reclaimed the lead, a 44-43 one with just under 16 minutes to play. The two exchanged leads seven more times over the next eight minutes, with the last one coming on an 8-3 Peay run that gave the Govs a 65-59 lead with 5:42 remaining.

They maintained that advantage over the next 60 seconds, and then JSU started its run. Four straight from Rackley cut the deficit to 67-65, and then a Cook lay in after a Baker free throw pulled JSU to within a point with less than three minutes to play.

Baker made two charity shots with 1:47 on the clock to give Peay a 70-67 lead and its final points of the game.

Boggs pulled JSU to within a point with 1:19 to play after cleaning up a Rackley miss for his fifth offensive board of the night. His sixth was just as big, as he grabbed his own miss with 36 seconds left and found an open Williams on the right wing for the winning trey.