GREELEY, Colo. – Late turnovers and a Northern Colorado run proved costly for the Jacksonville State men's basketball team in a 69-60 loss on Saturday.
 
Late in a second half that saw eight lead changes, the Gamecocks (7-5) held a six-point lead over the Bears (4-5), but back-to-back turnovers keyed a 19-4 run over the final 5:07 that kept UNC unbeaten at home.
 
Senior D.J. Felder led  three Gamecocks in double figures with 16 points on a 7-for-9 shooting night and also pulled down five boards in the losing effort. The Bears got 24 points from Tim Huskisson, who led a 44-16 advantage inside for UNC in the game.
 
A team that entered the game averaging just under 78 points per game and over 88 at home, the Bears struggled to get points early against the Gamecocks defense. They went inside in the second half and got 22 more points in the paint to pull away from JSU.
 
Senior Darion Rackley scored 15 for JSU, 12 in the first half, while junior JaQuail Townser added 10. Junior Dontay Jackson scored just two points but dished five assists and grabbed three steals in the game. Avery Moore scored nine one night after receiving his diploma over 1,400 miles away in Jacksonville.
 
Dominique Lee recorded a double-double for the Bears with 18 points and 10 rebounds, while Tevin Svihovec added 13 points, 11 in the second half. Lee's night on the glass led UNC to a 35-30 advantage in the rebounding column.
 
The first half couldn't have started much better for the Gamecocks, who scored the first eight points and raced to a 16-5 lead before seven minutes ran off of the clock. They were able to maintain most of that lead until the final 4:16, when the Bears took a 13-3 run into the half to grab their first lead of the night at 32-31.
 
JSU seemed to stop the bleeding and an 8-0 run by UNC on an Moore triple that turned a one-point game into a 31-28 JSU lead with 1:04 left in the half.
 
Jackson raced down the floor and made great block on a Corey Spence layup attempt but was whistled for a technical right after to set up the final Bears run. Spence made both technical free throws and Lee followed with a lay in with seven seconds left to give UNC its first lead.
 
The second half saw each team exchange blows for the first 12 minutes. That stretch that saw seven lead changes before the Gamecocks scored six in a row to build a 54-48 lead with 6;52 to play, the first lead of more than three points by either team in the second half.
 
The Bears wouldn't go away, tying the game at 58-58 and then using an old fashioned 3-point play by Svihovec to reclaim the lead at 61-60 with 3:04 left in the game.
 
A pair of Townser turnovers on the next two possessions led to two UNC dunks and pushed their lead to 65-60 with just over a minute to play.
 
The Gamecocks will stay in Colorado, where they will take on Air Force in Colorado Springs on Monday at 8 p.m. CT in their final game before Christmas.