JACKSONVILLE – A rough night offensively for Jax State opened the door for visiting Western Kentucky to take a 70-59 win over the Gamecocks inside Pete Mathews Coliseum on Saturday.
 
The loss was the first at home for the Gamecocks (12-13, 4-6 CUSA) since January 20. In both regular season meetings, the Hilltoppers (17-7, 6-4 CUSA) came back from halftime deficits to upend Jax State.
 
Jax State's KyKy Tandy's 13 points and Juwan Perdue's 10 points weren't enough to match WKU's Don McHenry with 24. Tandy finished 4-of-17 from the field and made the only three-pointer of the night for the Gamecocks. Jax State finished 1-for-14 from beyond the arc, nearly having their first game without a made three-pointer since 2019.
 
The two sides exchanged the lead 12 times overall and each led for at least 12 minutes. WKU pulled out to a 22-15 advantage late in the opening half, before an 8-0 Gamecock run moved Jax State back ahead. The Gamecocks led 29-28 at the break, but the Tops quickly evened things at 33-33 early in the second. From there, neither team led by more than five until WKU stretched the advantage to 58-50 with 5:09 remaining.
 
In addition to a 37-percent shooting clip from the floor in the second half, Jax State also went 12-19 at the stripe missing opportunities to cut into the late deficit. On the opposite end, WKU scored six of its final eight points at the free throw line to extend the lead en route to the 70-59 outcome.
 
Jax State travels to conference leader LA Tech on Thursday night.