NICEVILLE, Fla. – Head coach Ray Harper claimed his 500th career win Friday, leading the Jacksonville State men's basketball team to a 71-62 victory over Chicago State in the semifinals of the Emerald Coast Classic.
 
The Gamecocks (2-3) leaned on big second-half performances from senior Jacara Cross and junior Derek St. Hilaire in the late minutes to hand Harper the historic win over the Cougars (3-5).

"I've just been doing this for a while," Harper said of his 500 wins. "I've had some really good players and some really good teams, but the priority is making this team better so we can win a few more.

"That's something I told our guys in the locker room. It isn't about winning or losing. It's about getting better. We have to find a way between now and 12:30 p.m. tomorrow to get better."
 
St. Hilaire scored a career-high 22 points, while Cross came up just two points shy of tying his career-best mark with 13 in the Sunshine State matchup.
 
After leading 36-32 at the half, Jacksonville State saw its lead erased with a 3-pointer from Chicago State's Xavier Johnson with 11:36 to play. The Cougar point guard's shot gave the designated home team its first lead of the afternoon.
 
The score was tied twice after the go-ahead trey, but that's when St. Hilaire and Cross led the Gamecocks on a charge that saw JSU push its lead to as much as eight in just three minutes.
 
St. Hilaire began the rally with an alley-oop pass to Cross, only to swipe the ball from CSU big Solomon Hunt seconds later and feed Cross a pass on the move for a one-handed jam.
 
The duo combined to score all but three of the Gamecocks' last 26 points as St. Hilaire led with 17 in the last 10 minutes.

"I thought Derek was good," Harper said. "He just plays so hard. I told our guys there were two high-energy plays in today's game, and he made both of them. And I thought Jacara was good for us." 
 
De'Torrion Ware contributed a half-best 12 points through the first 20 minutes, hitting four of five field-goal attempts. Three of the sophomore's baskets came from beyond the arc while he was 1-for-1 from the free-throw line.
 
Ware's 12, accompanied by eight points from Elias Harden, gave the Gamecocks a narrow four-point lead at the break in a half where points were hard to come by. JSU was held to 42 percent shooting in the period, and Chicago State fared only slightly better by hitting 11 of 22 shot attempts.
 
The win puts Jacksonville State in the championship round of Emerald Coast Classic, pinning the Gamecocks against regional-foe Chattanooga at 12:30 p.m. Saturday afternoon.
 
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