Rackley Guides Gamecocks To 70-65 Win Over UTM In OVC Opener

Monday, December 30

JACKSONVILLE

7:45 p.m.

Jacksonville State University

7-9, 1-0OVC

UT MARTIN

5-11, 0-1OVC

Team	1	2	F
UT Martin	37	28	65
Jacksonville State	29	41	70

12/30/2013 10:48:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score

JACKSONVILLE – Darion Rackley scored 22 points to help the Jacksonville State men's basketball team rally and win its Ohio Valley Conference opener 70-65 over UT Martin at Pete Mathews Coliseum on Monday night.

The St. Louis, Mo., native scored 16 of his 22 points in the second half to push him over the 20-point mark for the second-straight game, the first time the junior guard has scored 20 or more points in consecutive games. His performance helped the Gamecocks open up conference play with a win and improve to 7-9 overall.

The Skyhawks (5-11, 0-1 OVC) led for most of the game but watched as Rackley helped power the Gamecocks to the come-from-behind victory. Marshun Newell came off the bench to lead UTM with 21 points while Terence Smith added 14 points. Myles Taylor rounded out the UTM scoring with 12 points.

Senior Brian Williams finished the night with 16 points, including a 3-point shot with 1:03 that turned a one-point game into a 64-60 Gamecock lead. He also dished six of his team's six assists.

Fellow senior Nick Cook finished with 10 points and nine rebounds to go with a career-best four steals and two blocks for a JSU team that struggled in the first half.

The Gamecocks opened the half going 11-of-19 from the free throw line before hitting all 10 attempts in the second half to finish the game 21-of-29 (72.4 percent). JSU finished the game 23-of-53 (43.4 percent) from the field while the Skyhawks shot 22-of-53 (41.5 percent) and 8-of-20 (40 percent) from behind the 3-point line.

Trailing 51-45 late in the game, Rackley knocked down consecutive 3-point shots to tie the game up with 6:52 remaining. The Gamecocks opened the game 0-for-7 from behind the 3-point line before Rackley knocked down the huge treys and scored 12 of the Gamecocks' next 16 points.

After Smith knocked down a pair of free throws to give the Skyhawks a 58-57 lead, the Gamecocks used a four-point swing from the free throw to take the lead for good. After Rackley was fouled driving to the basket the Skyhawks were assessed a technical foul. Junior guard Avery Moore then hit two free throws before Rackley added two more to give JSU a 61-58 lead with 3:48 remaining.

UTM would cut the lead to 61-60 before junior Teraes Clemmons drove the lane and found a wide-open Williams for three. The 3-point bucket gave JSU a 64-60 lead with 1:02 to play before the Skyhawks responded with a quick layup to cut the lead to 64-62 with 52 seconds left.

Clemmons then hit a jumper in the lane with the shot clock expiring before Smith cut the lead to 66-65 with a deep 3-point shot with nine seconds remaining. Freshman Undra Mitchem then hit two free throws and Williams came up with a steal that led to a dunk to secure the 70-65 victory.

The Gamecocks opened the game shooting 6-of-10 from the floor while limiting the Skyhawks to 3-of-10 from the field. After Rackley's layup tied the game up at 22-22 with 8:06 to play, UTM would manage to build a 31-25 lead while holding JSU scoreless for nearly 7 minutes.

JSU missed five shots from the field and went 3-of-6 from the free throw before Cook's dunk with 1:56 to play broke up JSU's scoring drought and cut the lead to 31-27. The Skyhawks then forced a JSU timeout with 54 seconds remaining after two baskets underneath extended the lead to 35-27.

The Skyahwks then managed to build a 10-point lead after a layup from Myles Taylor before Cook finished the half with a dunk to cut the lead to 37-29 at the break. JSU closed the half shooting 2-of-10 from the field to finish 9-of-25 from the floor and 11-of-19 from the free throw line.

UT Martin managed to close the half hitting five of their last 10 shots to finish 14-of-32 from the floor. The Skyhawks also managed to hit 5-olf-13 from behind the 3-point line while holding the Gamecocks to an 0-for-4 performance from 3 to start the game.

The Gamecocks will return to action with a road trip to Nashville, Tenn. JSU will first take on Belmont on Jan. 2 at 7 p.m. before taking on Tennessee State on Saturday, Jan. 4 at 7 p.m.