JACKSONVILLE, Ala. – Senior Matt Witt converted 1-of-2 free throws with :01 left to lift the Eastern Kentucky men's basketball team to a 72-71 win at Jacksonville State Thursday night. The victory was the third in a row for the Colonels (13-13, 10-8 OVC) and ended JSU's (12-12, 10-8) five-game home winning streak.

Witt finished with a team-high 19 points while fellow senior Jason McLeish added 17 points. Meanwhile, junior Julian Mascoll chipped in with 13 points on 5-of-8 (62.5 percent) shooting, the first time in four games he has recorded double figures.

For Jacksonville State, Walker Russell went 10-of-12 (83.3 percent) from the field for a game-best 24 points. Dorien Brown netted 17 points while Courtney Bradley hauled in a career-high 16 rebounds.

The Colonels came out on fire, hitting six of their first eight field goal attempts to grab a 15-9 lead. A Witt three-pointer with 13:00 remaining in the first stanza gave EKU its first double-digit advantage of the game, 23-11. Eastern eventually extended its cushion to 13 points, 37-24, late in the first half before six straight Jacksonville points helped the home team creep back to within six at 39-33. However, Witt snuck in a long-range trifecta right before the buzzer to make the score 42-33 at the break.

Eastern maintained a sizable lead throughout the first 10 minutes of the second half and a Mascoll lay-up at 9:26 put the Colonels ahead by 11 points, 64-53. Following a Witt bucket two possessions later, EKU suddenly went cold and only scored one point in the ensuing four-minute stretch. The Gamecocks capitalized with five points by B.J. Spencer and a Russell jumper with 4:46 left to close the gap to three points, 67-64.

Mascoll finally ended the Colonel scoring drought with a driving lay-up to put EKU up by five, 69-64. After the two teams exchanged baskets, Russell converted a traditional three-point play making the score 71-69 in favor of Eastern with 1:33 showing on the clock. Russell then stepped up again with a steal and breakaway lay-up with 33 ticks remaining to knot the score at 71-all.

The Colonels held the ball for the last shot of regulation, but a pair of Gamecock fouls put Eastern Kentucky in the bonus with :01 left. Witt swished the first throw and intentionally missed the second so Jacksonville would not be able to attempt a final desperation shot at the buzzer. The win was the fifth conference road triumph of the year for Eastern, the first time the Colonels have achieved that feat since the 1970-71 season.

Eastern Kentucky now returns home to play its final three regular season games in McBrayer Arena. The Colonels next host Big South foe UNC Asheville on Saturday, Feb. 18, beginning at 7 p.m.