HUNTSVILLE—A strong start to the second half with a defensive stop at the end of the game helped Jax State knock off Middle Tennessee State 70-68 to reach the Conference USA Championship for the first time.
 
Middle Tennessee jumped out to a nine-point lead at the 12:45 mark by connecting on four of their first six 3-point attempts to hold a 17-8 advantage. The Gamecocks committed six turnovers in the first eight minutes of the contest leading to seven Blue Raider points. A three-point play by Jaron Pierre Jr. capped a six-point surge to get the second-seeded Gamecocks within one at 19-18.
 
A jumper by Pierre with 5:20 left in the first tied the game at 24, but a 3-ball by Kamari Lands on the next possession put MTSU back in command. Quel'Ron House knocked down a floating jumper with 93 seconds left in the half which locked up the game at 33, but once again, MTSU tied the game on the next possession with an uncontested slam.
 
House finished with a career-best 20 points on 6-of-10 shooting.
 
Jax State got a stop on Middle Tennessee's final possession of the half to go and drew a foul with seven-tenths of a second left and converted two free throws to go to the locker room tied at 35.
 
The Gamecocks scored the first eight points of the second half and held the Blue Raiders scoreless for the first five minutes. The lead increased to as much as 11 when Pierre hit a 3-pointer from in front of his bench at the 12:45 mark to take a 50-39 advantage.
 
Pierre scored 19 points with 14 coming in the second half.
 
After connecting on seven first half 3-pointers, Middle Tennessee missed their first five 3-point attempts of the second.
 
A 3-pointer by House with 5:04 left off of an offensive rebound to take a double-digit lead at 64-54, but the Blue Raiders immediately answered with a triple of their own. They connected on six of seven shots to tie the game at 68 with 52 seconds left, holding the Gamecocks scoreless for 2:24.
 
A pair of free throws by House with 22 seconds remaining gave the Gamecocks a 70-68 lead, then made a big play on defense to force the ball out of bounds in the final seconds and helped the team hold Middle Tennessee without a shot on the final possession.
 
House finished the day a perfect 6-of-6 at the line.
 
Marcellus Brigham Jr. added 11 points with a team-best nine rebounds.
 
The Gamecocks will face Liberty at 7:30 p.m. on Saturday in the championship game.