JACKSONVILLE – Jamal Hunter put the Jacksonville State men's basketball team ahead and then blocked Belmont's attempt at the buzzer to lift the Gamecocks to a 72-70 win over the Bruins on Wednesday at Pete Mathews Coliseum.
 
The senior went up strong and scored with 1:38 to play to give the Gamecocks (10-17, 3-9 Ohio Valley Conference) a 68-66 win and then swatted Craig Bradshaw's runner as time expired to down the Bruins (15-10, 7-5 OVC) for the first time since Belmont joined the OVC three seasons ago.
 
Hunter's final block was his seventh of the night, tying his own school record for blocks in a Division I game and his go-ahead basket gave him 10 points on a night that also saw him lead his team with eight rebounds. He was 5-for-7 from the floor and also had three assists.
 
Hunter and fellow senior D.J. Felder's production in the paint came on a night where it was much needed. Without guards JaQuail Townser and Dontay Jackson due to injury, Hunter and his partner in the post combined for 29 points. Felder's 19 set a new career high and went along with five boards, three on the offensive glass.
 
Senior Darion Rackley scored 16 points and grabbed four steals, while senior Avery Moore and freshman Malcolm Drumwright added eight apiece. Freshman Randall Smith scored four in 17 quality minutes off the bench, and junior Jeremy Watson had seven points and five rebounds.
 
Belmont got 24 points and nine rebounds from Evan Bradds, while Bradshaw added 15. Reece Chamberlain recorded a double-double of 10 points and 10 assists.
 
The Gamecocks used a 52 percent shooting effort in the first half to build an early lead, only to watch Belmont blister the nets to the tune of a 64 percent clip in the second half. It wouldn't be enough in a back-and-forth game that saw three ties and eight lead changes in the game's final 12:30.
 
The Gamecocks came to life late early in the first half, when a pair of Rackley steals keyed a 13-4 run that turned a 10-8 Belmont lead into 21-14 JSU lead. Felder got in on the hot shooting, knocking down the first two 3-pointers of his career in the half to help JSU build as much as a 15-point lead at 35-20 with just over three minutes on the clock.
 
The Gamecocks forced eight first-half turnovers and turned those into 11 points. They shot just under 52 percent from the floor and were 3-for-6 from behind the arc. In the first 20 minutes.
 
The Bruins came to life during the half and cut into JSU's lead quickly to start the second half. They scored six-straight points in the first 60 seconds of the half to make it a 37-32 Gamecock lead. They would get another basket to cut it to a three-point game before JSU's first basket of the half fell for Rackley with 17:37 on the clock.
 
The Gamecocks held on until the 12:32 mark, when an Evan Bradds putback gave the Bruins their first lead since 10-8 at 47-46. Jamal Hunter answered quickly with a layup that gave JSU the lead right back at 48-47.
 
The two exchanged leads twice before a 7-0 JSU run put the Gamecocks back up by six at 57-51 with just under nine minutes remaining.
 
Belmont came right back again, scoring seven in a row to reclaim a 60-59 lead with seven minutes on the clock. There were three more lead changes before Hunter's final basket that gave JSU the lead for good with 98 seconds to play.
 
The Bruins cut it to one on a Bradds layup with 16 seconds left and got the ball after Watson missed the back end of his two free throws.
 
Bradshaw got the rebound off Watson's miss and went the length of the floor before driving to attempt to tie, but Hunter's rejection found Drumwright's hands and the clock expired to let JSU pull off the win.
 
The Gamecocks will return home Saturday to host Tennessee Tech at 7:30 p.m. JSU students and fans ages 18 and under receive free admission to all JSU home basketball games.