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JACKSONVILLE – The Jacksonville State men's basketball team will open its home schedule Saturday at 7 p.m. against Alabama State at Pete Mathews Coliseum. Admission is free for fans 18 and under.

The Gamecocks come home for the first time in the regular season with a Saturday evening tilt against in-state foe Alabama State. It is the final in the Global Sports Classic for the Gamecocks, who dropped road games at Bradley, Illinois and Chicago State last week to open the season.

JSU played a pair of exhibitions at home before leaving for its Illinois trip, defeating West Georgia and Martin Methodist in the friendly confines of Pete Mathews Coliseum.

On the road trip, JSU's two leading returning scorers from last season struggled in the first two games before coming to life at Chicago State on Tuesday. Senior Brian Williams and junior Darion Rackley each scored 23 points in the loss to CSU and both played big parts in an impressive comeback attempt by the Gamecocks. Trailing by as many as 17 late in the first half, JSU came back to tie it twice in the final 10 minutes, but some key Cougar buckets did them in.

Williams, a native of Lawrenceville, Ga., has now score 985 career points and needs just 15 more to become the 22nd member of JSU's 1,000-point club. Williams is currently fifth on the school's Division I scoring list, and with 273 assists, he needs four more to move into the Top 10 on the school's career assists list.

Rackley, a native of St. Louis, Mo., went 0-for-10 from behind the arc in his first two games before going 4-for-8 in the Chicago State game. Senior Nick Cook has led JSU on the glass, averaging 9.7 rebounds per game, while junior D.J. Felder is pitching in 6.3 boards and 8.3 points per outing. Rackley and Williams are averaging 14.7 and 14.3 points per game, respectively.