Thursday, December 31
JACKSONVILLE
3:30 p.m.
Jax State
vs
Southern Illinois Edwardsville
12/30/2015 5:31:00 PM | Men's Basketball
JACKSONVILLE – The Jacksonville State men's basketball team is prepared to open Ohio Valley Conference play Thursday afternoon hosting the Cougars of Southern Illinois-Edwardsville.
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The Gamecocks will look to finish the year strong with its 3:30 tip off on New Year's Eve, which marks the final JSU athletic event of the calendar year.
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JSU leads the overall series against the Cougars, 3-2, however the two losses came the two previous times JSU met SIUE as the conference opener. Those two meetings came in Edwardsville, Ill., as the Gamecocks have yet to lose against SIUE at Pete Mathews Coliseum.
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Both squads had a tough early portion of the season during their respective non-conference slates. The Cougars enter with a 3-9 record to begin first-year coach Jon Harris' career. SIUE made difficult road trips to Northwestern, Southern Cal and Butler. Burak Eslik (13.3) and Grant Fiorentinos (10.7) both average double figures in scoring to pace SIUE offensively.Â
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JSU enters the OVC lid lifter feeling positive, despite a loss in its previous outing. The Gamecocks took Alabama to overtime on Tuesday before falling 59-67 on the road in front of a crowd of more than 11,000. Prior to that, JSU knocked off Northern Colorado, 79-76, back on Dec. 21 in Jacksonville. In that contest, leading scorer Malcolm Drumwright scored a game-high 28 for his fourth 20-point performance of the season. The native of Rancho Cucamonga, Calif., leads a balanced offensive attack which includes JaQuail Townser, Jared Hamilton and Jeremy Watson each averaging around nine points per game.
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Jax State will look to win its first home conference game of the season for the fourth year in a row. JSU students and all fans ages 18 and under received free admission to all JSU home basketball games. The matchup follows the women's game which begins at 1:00.
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The Gamecocks will look to finish the year strong with its 3:30 tip off on New Year's Eve, which marks the final JSU athletic event of the calendar year.
Â
JSU leads the overall series against the Cougars, 3-2, however the two losses came the two previous times JSU met SIUE as the conference opener. Those two meetings came in Edwardsville, Ill., as the Gamecocks have yet to lose against SIUE at Pete Mathews Coliseum.
Â
Both squads had a tough early portion of the season during their respective non-conference slates. The Cougars enter with a 3-9 record to begin first-year coach Jon Harris' career. SIUE made difficult road trips to Northwestern, Southern Cal and Butler. Burak Eslik (13.3) and Grant Fiorentinos (10.7) both average double figures in scoring to pace SIUE offensively.Â
Â
JSU enters the OVC lid lifter feeling positive, despite a loss in its previous outing. The Gamecocks took Alabama to overtime on Tuesday before falling 59-67 on the road in front of a crowd of more than 11,000. Prior to that, JSU knocked off Northern Colorado, 79-76, back on Dec. 21 in Jacksonville. In that contest, leading scorer Malcolm Drumwright scored a game-high 28 for his fourth 20-point performance of the season. The native of Rancho Cucamonga, Calif., leads a balanced offensive attack which includes JaQuail Townser, Jared Hamilton and Jeremy Watson each averaging around nine points per game.
Â
Jax State will look to win its first home conference game of the season for the fourth year in a row. JSU students and all fans ages 18 and under received free admission to all JSU home basketball games. The matchup follows the women's game which begins at 1:00.
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Players Mentioned
G
/ Men's Basketball
G/F
/ Men's Basketball
G
/ Men's Basketball
F
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