DALLAS – The Jacksonville State men's basketball team fell 74-65 to SMU in its season opener Tuesday night at Moody Coliseum despite a strong second-half showing.
 
The Gamecocks played the Mustangs neck-and-neck in a tight second half, 43-41, after falling behind by as much as 18 in the period, but early turnovers and lack of offensive boards plagued JSU throughout the night.
 
"Turnovers and offensive rebounds," head coach Ray Harper said. "We gave up 17 offensive rebounds. That's a lot to overcome. You can't beat good teams if you're going to turn the ball over 19 times and give them second and third opportunities."
 
Senior Jacara Cross and sophomore De'Torrion Ware each tallied 13 points to pace the offense, while junior transfer Kayne Henry impressed with 10 points and eight rebounds in his first game as a Gamecock.
 
"We've really been on Kayne about rebounding the ball," Harper said. "I was really pleased with how tough he was tonight. That's why he played so many minutes in the second half. I just thought his effort and energy was terrific."
 
A total of 10 Gamecocks saw the court in the first half. Five saw their first action in a JSU uniform, including Henry, Martin Roub, Derrick Cook and starters Marek Welsch and Elias Harden.
 
Despite some early miscues, the Gamecocks trailed the Mustangs just 31-24 at the break. The JSU bench outscored the Mustangs' bench 15-6 with Roub accounting for six. The transfer showed his range with two 3-pointers, while Ware complimented the junior's six with five points of his own.
 
Junior Derek St. Hilaire hit a layup just before the horn to make it a seven-point game at the horn.
 
The second half did not start as planned for the Gamecocks. SMU went on a 10-0 tear to open up the new period and put the visitors down by 17 in less than three minutes. Henry banked in a layup to bring a stop to the Mustang attack and later hit a one-handed slam to put the exclamation point on a 7-0 JSU run.
 
Henry's dunk cut the SMU lead back to eight, 58-50, with 4:54 left to play, but that would be as close as the Gamecocks got in the dwindling minutes. The Mustangs went on to outscore JSU 16-15 in the final five minutes.
 
Harper attributed the Gamecocks' improved play in the second half to making better shots on smarter passes.
 
"We made the extra pass in the second half," Harper said. "We missed wide-open guys by forcing shots in the first half. We have to do a better job of that, and they're going to see that when we watch film on Thursday.
 
"Now we have to get back home and try to correct our mistakes. It will be good to have a few days of practice before our next game. We have so many new guys that are trying to feel their way out, and we're going to be ok, but we can be a better basketball team the quicker we figure it out."
 
Jacksonville State returns to Pete Mathews Coliseum for its home opener Tuesday, Nov. 12 against Brescia. Tipoff is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. on ESPN+.
 
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