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JACKSONVILLE, Ala. – The Eastern Kentucky University men’s basketball team trailed by 11 at halftime, but battled back to earn a 57-51 win at Jacksonville State Saturday afternoon. With the win, head coach Jeff Neubauer tallied his 100th career victory at EKU.

Senior Spencer Perrin paced Eastern (13-11, 7-6 OVC) in scoring (19 points) and rebounds (eight). Freshman Jeff Johnson added 12 points, including two key buckets in the final 90 seconds of the contest.

Nick Murphy was the only Jacksonville State (4-20, 2-11) player to finish in double figures as the forward piled up 19 points.

The Gamecocks used an 11-0 run, where the Colonels went almost six minutes without a point, to build an early 24-13 lead. EKU went into halftime trailing, 29-18, marking the second lowest scoring half of the season for Eastern.

Perrin gave the Maroons an offensive spark in the second stanza, as he scored seven consecutive points to help the Colonels close the gap to two points, 33-31. Senior Justin Stommes missed a three-pointer on EKU’s next possession that would have given Eastern Kentucky the lead.

From there, Jacksonville State extended the lead back to seven points, 40-33, but could not pull away.

Junior Joshua Jones’ floater in the lane with 2:59 left finally gave Eastern Kentucky the lead, 45-44. It was the first lead for the Colonels since 9-8 eight minutes into the contest.

There were two more ties down the stretch before a Johnson put-back with 1:17 remaining put the Colonels ahead for good, 49-47. Following a Jacksonville State turnover, Jones fed Johnson for an easy lay-up to make the score, 51-47. Eastern then hit six free throws in the final 40 seconds to seal the win.

In the second half, the Colonels held Jacksonville State to 22 points on 29 percent (7-of-24) shooting. Eastern Kentucky also got to the free throw line 20 times and knocked down 17 attempts (85 percent).

Eastern Kentucky now returns home to host Southeast Missouri and Eastern Illinois next weekend.