DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – James Madison took an early lead on Saturday that it did not relinquish for the final 35 minutes of play on the way to a 71-65 win over the Jax State Men's Basketball team in the third place game of the Boardwalk Battle in Daytona Beach, Fla.

With the loss, Jax State falls to 4-3 while James Madison improves to 4-3 and takes home the third place crown in the Boardwalk Battle.

Jaron Pierre Jr. finished the game with 25 points and has now scored 20+ points in six of seven games this season. Pierre is averaging 23.3 points per game, the highest mark in Conference USA.

Jax State led for just over four minutes of game time before taking its first and final lead with 15:31 left in the first half. The Dukes were powered by a 40.7 percent three-point performance, including an 8-of-15 mark in the first half.

James Madison led 40-29 at halftime in the third game of the three-day event. Jax State cut the Dukes' lead from 11 to five in the first five minutes of the half courtesy of an 11-5 scoring run.

Following the early push, James Madison pushed its lead out to as many as 12 points in the second half. The Gamecocks made a pair of attempts to cut the Dukes' lead down, but failed to make the game closer than five points.

Despite the loss, Jax State center Mason Nicholson set a new career high with 15 points and finished just two rebounds shy of a double-double with eight.

The two teams finished the game even in the rebounds column with 31 rebounds apiece. Jax State entered the evening ranked seventh in defensive rebounds per game with 33.3 and finished the game with just 25.

Pierre finished his seventh appearance of the season with seven assists, the most in a game by a Jax State player this season. The redshirt senior also tallied four rebounds.

Michael Houge added four rebounds and is Conference USA's leading rebounder with 60 total boards so far this season.

The Gamecocks return to action on Dec. 2 when Columbia International wanders in the Pete Mathews Coliseum.