Box Score

MOREHEAD, Ky. – The Jacksonville State men's basketball team grabbed an early lead on Morehead State and never let up, handing the Eagles a rare 69-55 loss in Ohio Valley Conference play at Ellis T. Johnson Arena.

The Gamecocks (11-16, 6-7 OVC) grabbed its final lead of the night on a Nick Cook layup with just under 14 minutes to play and used a stingy defense and productive offense to hand the defending OVC champion Eagles (13-13, 6-6 OVC) just their fifth home loss in the last five years in conference play. It was JSU's third-straight OVC road win, the first time it has achieved that feat since a three-game streak that started at the end of 2005-06 and ended in early 2006-07.

Five JSU players combined to score 67 of the Gamecocks' 69 points, including a foursome that each put in double figures. Freshman Darion Rackley scored a career-high 20 points to lead that group. The St. Louis, Mo., native went 4-for-9 from the floor and converted on 11 of his 13 free throw attempts to score 16 in the second half and lead all scorers.

Junior Tarvin Gaines scored eight of his 15 points in the first half and grabbed nine boards to fall one rebound shy of his second career double-double. The native of West Memphis, Ark., native got six of his boards on the defensive end and went 5-for-8 from the floor and 5-of-6 from the free throw line.

Sophomores Brian Williams and Nick Cook each added 12 points, while junior Ronnie Boggs pitched in eight. Junior Rinaldo Mafra scored JSU's other two points.

The Eagles got 14 points from Drew Kelly and 11 from Ty Proffitt, while four players scored at least six points in the losing effort. Kelly got eight of his output in 10 tries from the charity stripe. They turned it over 17 times, which led to 17 Gamecock points.

After the two exchanged blows out of the gates, JSU put together points on back-to-back possessions to grab a lead it would take into the locker room at the half. Gaines scored eight of the Gamecocks' first 14 points to lead all scorers, while Cook and Boggs added six, apiece.

The Eagles managed to shoot just 35 percent from the floor and missed all four of their attempts from 3-point range in the first half. The Gamecocks shot 48 percent on their end of the floor to take a 28-21 lead into the half, JSU's largest lead of the first 20 minutes.

The Gamecocks held that lead for the first several minutes of the second half before stretching it to 41-31 with just under 12 minutes remaining. The Eagles answered immediately, using a 3-point play by Kelly, a pair of JSU turnovers by the Gamecocks and a triple from Marsell Holden that cut JSU's lead to four just 50 seconds later.

The Gamecocks stretched it right back to a nine-point lead by forcing Morehead State to turn it over on four-straight possessions.

The Gamecocks continued to suffocate the Eagles with defense and turned it into back-to-back 3-pointers from Williams and Rackley to grab their largest lead of the night, a 55-43 advantage with just under five minutes to play.

MSU cut it back to six but JSU answered again. Back-to-back baskets by the Gamecocks put the Eagles away.

JSU will now take six days off before playing its final road game of the season on Tuesday at Tennessee State. Tipoff is set for 7 p.m. CT in Nashville, Tenn.