JACKSONVILLE – Jacksonville State fell to Central Arkansas, 72-62, on Saturday night at Pete Mathews Coliseum for JSU's first consecutive losses since early December.
 
The Gamecocks (16-9, 9-3 ASUN) cling to the west division lead holding the tiebreaker over Bellarmine for the time being with the two set to square off in Louisville next Sunday night. The Bears controlled the game leading for more than 34 minutes to improve to 8-16 and 5-6 in league action.
 
Senior Kayne Henry's second double-double of the season with 12 points and 10 rebounds was part of a trio of Gamecocks to reach double figures. Darian Adams led the way with 15 points, while Demaree King, in his third start, added 11.
 
Henry and Brandon Huffman scored back-to-back early to go up 4-2 before the first big UCA run of the day made it 9-4 for the visitors. The deficit reached double-digits midway through the period at 20-10 and lingered around that margin down the stretch to the intermission. Down by 12 in the closing seconds, Adams hit JSU's first triple of the game to make it a 32-23 score at the break.
 
After a dunk by UCA's Eddy Kayouloud in the second half, the Bears led 38-26, but an ensuing bucket from Henry sparked a 17-5 stretch for JSU over the next seven minutes that was capped with a three from King to even the score at 43. UCA responded with a trey to jump back ahead, but King answered right back with another deep ball. After the first meeting between the two teams had 24 lead changes and 12 ties, Saturday's contest featured only 1 lead change and four ties.
 
Following King's back-to-back strike to knot the score, JSU was unable to ever push its way in front for the final nine minutes.
 
The Gamecocks travel to Lipscomb on Wednesday for the first of the final two road games of the regular season.