JACKSONVILLE – Jax State opened on a 16-0 run and led wire-to-wire in Thursday's 93-57 victory over visiting Fort Valley State at Pete Mathews Coliseum.
The Gamecocks (7-7) even their record with one final non-conference game on the schedule against Trevecca Nazarene on Sunday. Jax State overpowered the Division II Wildcats (3-9) shooting a season-best 63-percent from the field and out-rebounding FVSU 45-26.
KyKy Tandy bolstered his Conference USA-leading scoring averaging with his fifth 20-point performance of the year. The Hopkinsville, Ky., native, finished with 20 as one of four Gamecocks to reach double figures. Junior transfer
Caleb Johnson was perfect on the night going 6-for-6 from the field and 1-of-1 from the charity stripe for a new career-high 13 points.
Mason Nicholson pitched in 11 points and seven rebounds, while
Travis Roberts scored 10.
Freshman
Alex Odam helped distributed the scoring with a team-high six assists. Overall, Jax State assisted on 21 of its 34 field goals. On the glass, the newest member of Jax State's Top 10 list for Division I rebounds,
Juwan Perdue, continued his climb with eight more on Thursday to match
Marcellus Brigham Jr. for the team best. Perdue and
Andres Burney also each scored nine, just one away from giving the Gamecocks six double-digit scorers.
Burney and Perdue set the stage early with nine of Jax State's opening 12 points along with a Tandy triple. The Gamecocks started 16-0 and forced a FVSU timeout and later led by 25 at 41-16 with six minutes remaining in the half. The margin held from there until halftime when the Gamecocks took a 50-25 advantage to the locker room.
In the second half, the Wildcats hung with Jax State in the early before the Gamecocks' top 25 defense tighten things up to extend the lead to as many as 40. With 16 turnovers, Jax State did allow 16 points off turnovers, but the Gamecocks made up for the mistakes with 13 fastbreak points and a 14-2 second-chance advantage.
Jax State is back to .500 for the first time since owning a 4-4 mark after the Nov. 30 win over South Alabama. The victory was career win No. 570 for head coach
Ray Harper, who after the recent retirement of Coast Carolina's Cliff Ellis, now moves to 17th on the Division I active wins list.
The final Jax State contest of any kind takes place on Dec. 31, when the Gamecocks host Trevecca Nazarene at 4 p.m.
