Box Score

BEREA, Ky. – EKU took a 6-point lead with 10:43 left in the game, but Jacksonville State answered with a 22-5 run on its way to a 91-80 victory on Saturday at the Seabury Center in Berea.
 
EKU senior Devontae Blanton scored a career-high 36 points, finishing 13-of-26 (50 percent) from the field.  His previous career-best was 32 against Indiana State in the 2023 College Basketball Invitational.
 
George Kimble III's 3-pointer from the left wing handed the Colonels (6-6) a 62-56 lead with less than 11 minutes left to play. 
 
A 3-pointer by Jaron Pierre Jr. started the big run by the Gamecocks (7-5).  Jamar Franklin's three tied it at 62-62 with 9:32 remaining.  Nine more allowed JSU to take a 71-62 lead on Pierre's jumper and free throw.  Mason Nicholson's layup extended the margin to 10, 75-65, with 5:43 on the clock.  Another triple from Franklin capped the run and stretched the margin to 11, 78-67, with 5:11 left in the game.
 
Jax State shot 56 percent from the field (20-of-36) from the field and scored 58 points in the second half after hitting just 34 percent (11-of-32) its shots and scoring 33 in the opening stanza.  The Gamecocks were 12-of-24 from 3-point range for the game, knocking down seven in the second 20 minutes of play.
 
Pierre finished with a team-best 22 points for JSU.  Nicholson grabbed a game-high 11 rebounds, including eight off the offensive glass.  Jax State out-rebounded EKU 47-36.
 
Kimble had 18 points.  Montavious Myrick pulled down a team-high 10 rebounds and scored six points.  The Colonels shot 39 percent from the field for the game, going 7-for-30 (23 percent) from behind the arc.
 
The Colonels will close out the 2024 calendar year with a game at Louisville next Saturday.  Tipoff at the KFC Yum! Center is scheduled for noon.