Men’s Basketball Bests UAB in a Saturday Night Thriller - Jacksonville State University Athletics

Saturday, November 14

JACKSONVILLE

6 p.m.

Jax State

2-2,0-0CUSA

UAB

2-2,0-0American

Team	1	2	F
UAB	30	38	68
Jacksonville St.	35	36	71

Box Score (PDF)

11/14/2026 9:11:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score

JACKSONVILLE, Ala. – Jax State Men's Basketball weathered an opposing 17-8 run in the final 4:50 of play to win 71-68 over the UAB Blazers on Saturday night inside Pete Mathews Coliseum.

Defeating the Blazers for the first time in school history, Jax State moves to 2-2 on the year along with UAB. The contest was just the second time in the all-time series history that the two programs played in Jacksonville–the first of which being on Nov. 17, 2009.

"I'm just proud of our kids," head coach Ray Harper said. "It's been a rough week and a half. We felt like we gave one away at South Alabama and obviously the other night we had a potential Final Four team in Houston. Our kids were resilient and I'm really proud of their effort.

With high intensity from the opening tip, both squads traded baskets throughout the opening 13 minutes of play before an 8-0 run from 6:34-5:03 (1:31) by the Gamecocks, featuring five straight points from junior Leon Horner, cushioned a lead that Harper's squad would take into the locker room at the break with a 35-30 advantage.

Sophomore forward Ethan Croley led Jax State at the end of the opening stanza with 12 points, nine boards and a block, setting career highs in points and rebounds, in just 15 minutes of action. Croley would go on to finish his night with 20 points and 17 rebounds, leading all players on the floor.

"He did everything," Harper said. "That's a grown man's night of work there. Obviously Ethan's best performance of the year. We got the ball inside to him at times. We hadn't been doing that before, but tonight we made a conscious effort to get him the ball and he played terrific for us."

In the second half, Jax State was able to retain its lead through the first 10 minutes, up until an 8-0 run by the Blazers tied it up 51-51 at the 10:07 mark. The Gamecocks retaliated immediately with a 12-0 run of their own to make it a 63-51 game with 4:50 to go.

Despite the 12-point lead, UAB came back with an offensive flurry, going on a 17-8 run down the final stretch of the contest, but it would not be enough as freshman Kash Polk sank his final two free throws to put it out of reach.

Alongside Croley, Horner was Jax State's second-leading scorer with 17 points, marking a career high for him as well. Horner shot 5-for-11 from the field and buried all six of his free throws. Also in double figures for Jax State was senior Jordan Stiemke who contributed 11 points with a trio of three-pointers.

The Gamecocks will hit the road again to take on Louisiana Tech inside Thomas Assembly Center on Tuesday, Nov. 17, at 6:30 p.m.