JACKSONVILLE – Jacksonville State's season came to an end Friday at the Ford Center with a 72-69 loss to Belmont in the semifinals of the Ohio Valley Conference Championships.
 
The contest came down to a last-second 3-pointer as the Gamecocks (18-9) rallied back from 13 points down, but the potential game-tying shot was off the mark and Belmont (26-3) moved on to compete in the finals of the OVC Tournament.
 
After falling behind, 41-28, four minutes into the second half, Jacksonville State battled back to pull within two points of the Belmont lead. Amanze Ngumezi, who tallied a team-leading 20 points, hit a second-chance layup with 14 seconds remaining, to pull the score to 71-69.
 
Demaree King fouled to send Tate Pierson to the free-throw line, where the Belmont guard hit one of two attempts to extend the Bruins' lead back to three. Ten second later on the other end of the court, Darian Adams was forced to throw up a contested 3-pointer with hopes of sending the game to overtime, but the shot hit the iron and fell into the hands of Grayson Murphy as time expired.
 
"We played against a really good, well-coached team tonight," Ngumezi said. "We left it all on the court. I can't be mad about it. I thought we played a heck of a game."
 
Ngumezi finished 8-for-11 with six rebounds and a 3-for-4 clip from the free-throw line in his third 20-point game of the season. Henry followed up with a double-double on 10 points and 11 rebounds, while Adams and Jalen Finch registered double-figure points with 13 and 11, respectively.
 
It is Jacksonville State's first loss in the OVC Tournament to Belmont. The only other postseason OVC meeting between the two programs saw JSU win in 2017 to advance and win its only Division I title.
 
With the Gamecocks set to join the ASUN in 2021-22, JSU exits the OVC with an 8-8 tournament record. Head coach Ray Harper led the program to a 6-4 record in five trips to the championships since 2016-17. It's the longest streak of postseason appearances for the program since joining the Division I ranks.
 
"I thought our kids competed," Harper said. "We gave ourselves a chance to win the game. I don't think Belmont scored a field goal the last four minutes. They just hit free throws and took advantage of turnovers."
 
Despite jumping out to a 4-0 lead, turnovers plagued the Gamecocks in the first half. Jax State coughed up the ball 10 times and Belmont took advantage. The Bruins scored 13 points on the miscues, while the Jacksonville State managed to force just six turnovers for four points.
 
JSU's 4-0 start was met with an 11-0 Belmont run, and each time the Gamecocks threatened to retake the lead, it seemed like the Bruins answered with 3-pointer to squash the momentum. The last five buckets Belmont scored in the period was a trey. Murphy and Pierson each hit one, while Luke Smith sunk three – including one from the top of the key seconds before the horn sounded.
 
BU led 36-28 at the half, but Ngumezi kept the Gamecocks afloat with 12 points in the opening 20 minutes. The junior 6-for-8 from the floor and slammed three dunks in the period. Henry was the only other Gamecock to score more than five points in the half.
 
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