JACKSONVILLE – A late spurt by the Jacksonville State men's basketball team gave the Gamecocks a 55-50 win over Tennessee State on Senior Day at Pete Mathews Coliseum Saturday.
 
The Gamecocks (12-17, 5-9 Ohio Valley Conference) got a combined 44 points from their four seniors in their final home game in a JSU uniform and capped an 11-3 record at home in 2014-15, the best home season since 2003-04. The win also avenged a loss to the Tigers (5-23, 2-11 OVC) in late January in Nashville.
 
Forwards D.J. Felder and Jamal Hunter led the charge for the Gamecocks in their final home game. Felder led all scorers with 15 points, while Hunter scored 13, pulled down eight boards and blocked three shots.
 
Senior guards Darion Rackley and Avery Moore scored eight apiece and each grabbed seven boards in leading JSU to a 34-29 advantage on the glass.
 
The Tigers got 11 points and eight rebounds from Demontez Loman, while Jay Harris and Marcus Roper scored nine apiece in the loss.
 
The Gamecocks opened the game with a hot hand, building an early six-point lead, but they cooled and the Tigers answered with an 8-0 run that gave them their first lead of the night at 23-20.
 
The Gamecocks battled back to reclaim the lead at the half, a 28-27 advantage on a Felder layup with less than a minute on the clock. He finished the half with nine points to lead all scorers.
 
JSU scored the first two baskets of the second half to push its lead to five in less than a minute. The Gamecocks stretched it to 37-31 before a 6-0 TSU run tied it with just under 13 minutes to play.
 
TSU hung around before a Loman jumper with 3:42 put the Tigers back on top, 48-47. That score remained until a pair of Malcolm Drumwright free throws put JSU back on top with 1:47 to play.
 
Hunter put back a Drumwright miss with 50 seconds on the clock to make it a three-point game and a Rackley steal on the other end put Moore at the line to ice the game.
 
The Gamecocks wrap up the 2014-15 season on the road, starting Thursday at Eastern Kentucky with a game that will tip at 6 p.m. CT in Richmond, Ky. They will wrap up the regular season Saturday at Morehead State at 5 p.m. CT in Morehead, Ky.