JACKSONVILLE – Led by KyKy Tandy's game-high 19 points, five Gamecocks finished in double figures as Jax State held its own against first-place Sam Houston Thursday in a 79-68 home win.
 
The Gamecocks (12-12, 4-5 CUSA) jumped out to a hot start shooting 46 percent in the first half to take a 17-point halftime advantage. The Bearkats (13-11, 6-3 CUSA), who entered in a tie atop the league standings after LA Tech fell on Wednesday night, failed to ever lead after an early 2-2 tie.
 
Behind Tandy, senior Juwan Perdue and junior Marcellus Brigham Jr. tallied 15 and 14 points, respectively. Meanwhile, big men Matt Mayers and Mason Nicholson each pitched in 10 points and combined for 16 of Jax State's 43 rebounds. Nicholson hauled in 10 boards to secure his second-straight double-double performance. While winning the rebounding battle by +19, the Gamecocks grabbed 14 offensive rebounds and outscored SHSU, 15-2, in second-chance points.
 
Notably making a difference throughout the night, Ivan Reynolds came off the bench to grab seven rebounds, score four points, dish four assists and swipe four steals that led to some thunderous fastbreak dunks.
 
Leading 16-11 eight minutes into the contest, Mayers sank a pair of free throws that sparked an 8-0 run which pushed the margin to double digits for the first time. Down the stretch of the first stanza, Brigham Jr, Perdue and Travis Roberts all connected from downtown to make it 37-20 with just over three minutes until halftime.
 
Early in the second, Jax State notched its largest lead in Conference USA contest with a 52-32 advantage following another Brigham triple. However, SHSU didn't go away lightly, charging to a 20-4 run over a six-minute stretch to force a Gamecock timeout. After the break, Perdue and Nicholson made consecutive buckets to push the lead back to 10 and the margin rarely slid below that point the rest of the way.
 
Tandy, Perdue, Brigham, Mayers and Nicholson became the first Gamecock quartet to each score 10-or-more in a game this season, with the last occurrence coming in the next-to-last game of last season at Central Arkansas where Perdue and Brigham were joined by Demaree King, Amanze Ngumezi and Monzy Jackson for the feat.  
 
Jax State hosts Western Kentucky on Saturday afternoon.