SPRINGFIELD, Mo. — Jax State's three-game win streak was snapped Saturday afternoon as the Gamecocks suffered a 67-74 loss to Missouri State on the road inside Great Southern Bank Arena.

The Gamecocks (11-10, 6-4 CUSA) struggled to gain traction on the offensive end throughout the afternoon as the team shot 2-for-14 from beyond the arc, along with giving up 18 turnovers to the Bears (13-9, 7-4 CUSA).

"We competed, but not for 40 minutes," head coach Ray Harper said. "Too many turnovers, too many bad decisions with the basketball…We had opportunities but just couldn't get over the hump."

Jax State led through the first 2:46 and was unable to get it back after Missouri State capitalized off of early momentum in the first half.

The Gamecocks shot just 6-for-18 from the floor through the first 12:41, with Iaroslav Niagu converting three of those buckets, as the Bears jumped out to a 22-15 lead with 7:45 remaining in the opening frame.

Missouri State claimed its biggest lead of the half with 1:35 to go after Keith Palek III sank two free throws to make it a 37-27 game. Following a couple of layups by Jaye Nash, the Bears retaliated with a buzzer-beating shot just before the halftime buzzer to enter the break with a 39-31 lead.

"At times we were pretty good defensively; we probably had a handful of possessions on the defensive side of the ball where there's just a lack of communication," Harper said. "These things can't happen. Those are the things that happen to teams that lose. That's what was happening to us in November and hasn't been happening recently."

The second half began as much of the same for Missouri State as the Bears immediately went on a 12-2 run through the first 4:34 to take an 18-point lead, 51-31, its biggest lead of the game.

However, after needing a spark offensively, the Gamecocks finally found some traction as Harper's squad took advantage of a 15-2 run from 15:26-11:09 (4:17) with 10 of those points between AC Bryant and Niagu during the span.

The momentum didn't stop there for Jax State as it proceeded to outscore the Bears 14-4 from 7:06-2:07 (4:59), making all eight free throw attempts and missing just two shots during the stretch to cut the deficit down to just one point.

Just as the favor shifted towards Jax State's way in the closing minutes, it quickly shifted back towards Missouri State as the Gamecocks were only able to make one of their last four attempts from the field to finish out the matchup.

"We lost some games at home in November because of not taking care of the ball," Harper said. "So, we're going to get home and we're going to fix it on Monday. We can't have those breakdowns. It just can't happen."

Jacoby Hill led the Gamecocks in scoring with 16 points, his second-highest point total of the year in his 37 minutes of action. Following the freshman was Niagu who poured in a career-high 13 points, shooting 5-for-9 from the field, along with grabbing five rebounds.

Additionally, Nash reached double figures as well, scoring a career-high 12 points off the bench after shooting 8-of-9 from the free throw line.

Jax State found success getting to the free throw line as a team, sinking 21-of-27 foul shots compared to Missouri State making just 12-of-21 attempts from the charity stripe.

"I thought Niagu was good today, he battled their big well and did some good things for us," Harper said. "I thought Jaye was our best competitor today."

The Gamecocks have one more road contest ahead of them before getting to return home next weekend. Jax State will travel to Western Kentucky to take on the Hilltoppers on Thursday, Feb. 5 at 8:00 p.m.