NASHVILLE, Tenn. – The No. 4 seeded Jacksonville State men's basketball team earned the program's third OVC Tournament victory Thursday night at Municipal Auditorium with a 74-51 win over No. 5 seed Southeast Missouri.
 
Senior Erik Durham picked up his third double-double of the year with a 16-point, 11-rebound performance. Durham reached 600 career points and dished out a career-best seven assists en route to leading the Gamecocks to their first win in the OVC Basketball Championships since 2012 (75-70 vs. Austin Peay, 2/29/12) and first ever quarterfinal victory.
 
The Gamecocks took a 31-27 lead to the locker room courtesy a hot-shooting half from beyond the arc. JSU nailed six of 12 three-point attempts to account for 18 of their first-half total. Just two field goal attempts in the period came from within the three-point line.
 
The period was a neck-and-neck battle all the way until the 9:04 mark when the score was tied 17-all. The lead swapped hands twice more before a Durham three-ball put the Gamecocks ahead by one, 23-22, with 6:09 to go in the stanza. Another Durham three and a Tucker free throw extended the lead to a half-best five points.
 
Durham led Jacksonville State scorers with 13 first-half points and accounted for half of the treys knocked down. He was 4-for-5 in field goal attempts and 3-for-3 from long range.
 
Southeast Missouri shortened the JSU lead to three points, 35-32, following a Denzel Mahoney three-pointer three minutes into the second half, but a scoring frenzy from the Gamecocks quickly widened the gap.
 
Junior Malcolm Drumwright's lone three-pointer of the night began the momentum shift, and sophomore Christian Cunningham threw down a monstrous dunk to reinforce the Gamecocks' dominance. Greg Tucker followed up with another three-pointer to push JSU's lead to 15 points. Jacksonville State led by a night-best 23 points by the end of the contest.
 
Junior Norbertas Giga pitched in a double-double with 11 points and 12 rebounds, while Drumwright finished the night with 15 points. Tucker was the fourth Gamecock to score in double-digits Thursday night, posting 12 along with three three-pointers.
 
The Gamecocks advance to the semifinals of the OVC Championships for just the second time in school history and will face the No. 1 seeded Belmont Bruins. Tipoff is set for 6:30 p.m. Friday night and will air on ESPNU.
 
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