HUNTSVILLE – Darion Rackley scored 26 points and the Jacksonville State men's basketball team held off Alabama A&M for a 67-61 road win on Tuesday at Elmore Gymnasium.
 
Rackley, a senior from St. Louis, was 10-for-17 from the floor and 3-for-6 from behind the arc to help lift the Gamecocks (2-3) to their second-straight win and their first on the road this season. The loss was the first at home for the Bulldogs (1-3) this season.
 
JSU and AAMU exchanged runs in the first half and early in the second half, but it would be an 18-4 spurt by the Gamecocks midway through the final half that built the lead for good. The Bulldogs couldn't put together enough to get back in it.
 
"There were a few things we got out of this one," head coach James Green said. "Winning, winning on the road and holding them off at the end - those things Big. They didn't quit. They came back and we were struggling, but our guys bounced back. It was a great effort by our guys to put it away."
 
Rackley came one point shy of his career high and moved into seventh on the school's Division I scoring list, running his career total to 940 points. He is 13 away from Courtney Bradley in sixth place.
 
"Those are the things we need from Darion every night," Green said. "He's not going to get 26 points, but it's all of the other things he did for us tonight, also."
 
Those other things were a career-high five steals, a block and five rebounds.
 
Junior Jeremy Watson was a rebound shy of his second double-double in as many games with 11 points and nine boards, while senior Avery Moore added 12 points, thanks to a 3-for-3 night from behind the arc.
 
The Bulldogs got double-doubles from Nicolas West and Ladarius Tabb. West scored 22 points and grabbed 10 boards, while Tabb had 12 rebounds to go along with 18 points.
 
"This was a great win," Green added. "We have an opportunity in our next game to get to .500. It will be a very tough ballgame, but if we can carry over the focus from tonight into practice, we will have a chance."
 
JSU returns home for a pair of Thanksgiving weekend contests at The Pete, starting with a 6 p.m. game against Savannah State on Friday. The Gamecocks will then host Fort Valley State in a Sunday matinee at 2 p.m.
 
After five quick points from the Bulldogs to start the game, the Gamecock defense buckled in and sparked a 23-2 run that helped JSU build an early lead. AAMU slowly chipped away at its deficit to draw as close as six at 33-27 at the half.
 
Rackley made three of his four 3-point attempts in the first 20 minutes to help score more than half of his team's 33 first-half points. The senior had 16 at the intermission, which moved him into eighth on the school's Division I career scoring list.
 
The Bulldogs kept their run rolling into the second half, scoring the first 10 of the half to build on a 20-10 stretch that gave them their first lead of the night at 35-33 on a Tabb tip in with just over 16 minutes to play.
 
Rackley got a steal and took it coast-to-coast with 13:58 to play to stop the AAMU run and snap a 7:55 field goal drought for the Gamecocks.
 
Avery Moore got the lead back for the Gamecocks with 11:17 to play, when he pulled up fro the top of the key and drained his second 3-pointer of the night and made it a 41-39 JSU advantage.
 
AAMU answered with a bucket, and then JSU scored 13 of the next 15 to build an 11-point lead at 54-43 with under eight minutes to play.
 
The Bulldogs cut it to eight twice and then pulled to within five on a Tyler Davis 3-pointer with 2:24 left in the game. They got it to a four-point game twice but the Gamecocks converted from the line to put the game away.