JACKSONVILLE – Jax State's KyKy Tandy poured in a career-high 29 points and the Gamecocks cruised by in-state foe South Alabama, 70-52, Thursday night inside Pete Mathews Coliseum.
 
The Gamecocks (4-4) snapped a two-game series skid against the Jaguars (4-5) from the Mobile Bay, but more importantly notched a third-straight win on the season overall to even their record. After a difficult 2022-23 campaign, the three-straight wins are the most for Jax State since winning five in a row at the end of the 2021-22 ASUN Championship season.
 
Behind Tandy's blistering 29 points on 10-of-18 shooting from the floor, junior Quincy Clark and sophomore Travis Roberts each quietly pitched in double digits of their own. Even shooting 49-percent, the Gamecocks still hauled in 13 offensive boards that resulted in 15 second-chance points. Matt Mayers and Marcellus Brigham Jr. led on the glass with six rebounds apiece as Jax State won the rebounding battle 41-25.
 
Tandy shot 5-for-11 from long range in the first half to head to the break with 17 points in Jax State's 37-23 lead. USA scored the game's first bucket, but after a 10-0 Gamecock run broke away from a 6-6 tie, Jax State never looked back.
 
Even with a five-minute scoring drought in the second-half, Jax State never relinquished the double-digit advantage leading by as many as 24 in the closing moments.
 
Surprisingly, Thursday's matchup between in-state schools was just the fourth meeting in nearly 50 years. With the Gamecocks' only previous home win in the series coming in 1968, Thursday's victory was the first over the Jags in JSU's Pete Mathews Coliseum which opened in 1974.
 
Jax State continues a three-game homestand on Sunday afternoon hosting East Tennessee State at 2 p.m.