COOKEVILLE, Tenn. – Jacksonville State's duo of Darion Rackley and Malcolm Drumwright combined for 42 points, but JSU's shooting woes continued on Saturday with a 72-59 loss at Tennessee Tech at the Eblen Center on the TTU campus.

The loss was the Gamecocks fifth in a row and dropped them to 2-9 in Ohio Valley Conference and 9-17 overall.  Tech picked up its third conference win of the year and pushed its overall mark to 11-13.
Rackley, the team's leading scorer entering the contest, rebounded from an off-night last Wednesday at Memphis as the St. Louis, Missouri-native was held to five points in Jax State's final non-conference affair.  He responded with eight in the first half and nine second-half points in 35 minutes of action.  Rackley was able to get to the free throw line with a 12-of-15 outing.

JSU freshman Malcolm Drumwright continues to give the Gamecocks a scoring boost off the bench with 17 points, which matches his season-high.  He added 17 points at UT Martin in January.  The Rancho Cucamonga, California-guard led JSU at Memphis with 12 points.  Drumwright scored 13 of his 17 points in the second half.

Tech led for nearly the entire contest and weathered a tough scoring start for both teams to race out to a double figure lead by the 9:53 mark of the opening half.  The deficit never got within single digits the rest of the way.  TTU's shooting kicked in to gear and finished the opening half shooting 41 percent from the field en route to posting 38 points in the first half and taking a comfortable 38-22 lead in to the intermission.  JSU's offensive struggles hindered it throughout the first half, but the squad's shooting mark improved in the second half.  After hitting just eight baskets in the first half, the Red and White were 9-of-25 from the field in the final half.  The Gamecocks finished the night shooting 36 percent, but out-scored TTU 37-34 in the final period.

After being held to 45 and 48 points at Tennessee State and Memphis respectively, JSU eclipsed the 50-point mark with just over a minute to play in the contest.

Coming out of the halftime break, Tech maintained its consistent shooting and did not let the Gamecocks back in to the contest.  The Golden Eagles cooled off just slightly in the second half, but still managed to hit 36 percent from the field and limit JSU to its nine baskets.   

Tech dominated on the boards as it had a plus-19 advantage in rebounds and pulled down 48 total boards.  TTU's Charles Jackson led the rebounding effort with 16 boards to go with his team-high 17 points.  Jackson was one of four Tech players in double figures in the scoring column.  DeOndre Haynes added 12 points off the bench, while Dwan Caldwell posted 11 points.  Torrance Rowe chipped in 10 points.

JSU finally returns home on Wednesday as it welcomes the Bruins of Belmont to Pete Mathews Coliseum.  Tip off is set for 8 p.m. and will follow the women's contest that will get underway at 5:30 p.m.