Gamecocks Shoot Their Way to 82-73 Win Over Central Michigan

Tuesday, December 17

JACKSONVILLE

7:45 p.m.

Jacksonville State University

5-8

CENTRAL MICHIGAN

6-5

Team	1	2	F
Central Michigan	27	46	73
Jacksonville State	33	49	82

12/17/2013 11:23:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score

PHOTO GALLERY

JACKSONVILLE – Four Gamecocks scored in double figures on a night that saw the Jacksonville State men's basketball team shoot 54 percent from the floor to hold off Central Michigan and grab an 82-73 win in Pete Mathews Coliseum.

The Gamecocks (5-8) and Chippewas (6-5) exchanged leads six times in the first half before a second-half surge put JSU up for good.

After a CMU spurt gave the Chippewas their last lead of the game early in the second half, junior Teraes Clemmons scored six in a 12-0 JSU run that gave the Gamecocks a 53-44 lead at the halfway mark of the second half. The Gamecocks shot 63 percent from the floor in the second half and had three players score in double figures in the second half alone to hang on and avenge a five-point loss at CMU on Nov. 30.

Junior Avery Moore scored 13 of his game-high 19 points in the second half, while Clemmons had 10 of his 12 in the final 20 minutes. Junior Darion Rackley had 11 in the second half and 16 on the night to join freshman Undra Mitchem in double figures.

Mitchem scored 17 in the win but carried the weight in the first half with 13. Senior Nick Cook blocked four shots to go along with eight points and six boards, while junior Jamal Hunter grabbed eight rebounds.

Senior Brian Williams scored just three, all of which came in the final minute, but the Lawrenceville, Ga., native tied a career high with nine of his team's 20 assists. He runs his career total to 312, ninth all-time at JSU, and is just the fifth player in school history with 1,000 points and 300 assists in a career.

CMU got 18 from John Simons, who went 5-for-9 from behind the arc, while Chris Fowler added 17. Simons led all players with nine rebounds.

The two exchanged runs in the first half, with JSU scoring the game's first seven points before watching the Chippewas score seven of the next nine to tie it up. They took their first lead at 12-11 less than seven minutes in.

There would be five more lead changes and four ties before one more JSU run, one that was punctuated by a Moore jumper that led to him stealing Blake Hibbitts' inbounds pass and laying it up to send the Gamecocks into the locker room on a 6-0 run and with a 33-27 lead.

JSU stretched its lead to eight to start the half, but the Chippewas started chipping away. They used a pair of Simon's 3-pointers to key a 17-6 run that gave them their largest and their last lead of the game at 44-41 with 13:30 left on the clock.

That's when the Gamecocks put together their 12-0 run that started with a Clemmons mid-range jumper and ended with a pair of free throws and another jump shot by the Mt. Juliet, Tenn., native. An Austin Stewart layup momentarily stopped the bleeding before Moore and Clemmons each knocked down a pair of free throws to give JSU a 57-46 lead with 8:16 remaining.

Central Michigan used the free throw line to crawl back in the game, turning an eight-point deficit into a two-point game despite making a field goal over a 4:29 stretch that saw the Chippewas score nine-straight points from the charity stripe.

The Gamecocks answered again, mounting an 11-2 run that was capped a by Moore's trey and two free throws that put the game out of reach with 71 seconds to play.

JSU will now travel to the British Virgin Islands, where it will compete in the BVI Tropical Shootout. The Gamecocks will open the tournament on Friday at 6 p.m. CT against Arkansas-Little Rock.