Contact: Stan Cole

Gamecocks Rally for 82-78 Win Over Campbell

*Story courtesy of the JSU SID Department

JACKSONVILLE – Junior James Denson scored a career-high 20 points as Jacksonville State (8-3, 2-0 A-Sun) rallied for an 82-78 win over Campbell (3-7, 0-1) in an Atlantic Sun Conference game here Saturday evening.

Poonie Richardson finished with 16 points while Omar Barlett added 13 for the Gamecocks, which used a 9-0 run over the final 2:49 of the game to maintain the top spot in the A-Sun standings.

"This was a tough, hard fought game," said JSU head coach Mike LaPlante. "Give credit to our guys. They fought and scrapped to find a way to come back and get the win."

With Campbell holding a 78-73 advantage after Solomon Yearby scored inside with 2:49 left in the game, the Gamecock defense held the Camels scoreless for the remainder of the game.

Richardson sank a pair of free throws with 1:58 left to cut the lead to 78-75, then Barlett pulled JSU to within one at the 1:21 mark on two free throws.

Jax State took the lead for good after Barlett scored on a putback with 30.2 seconds left and the Gamecocks sank 3-of-4 from the charity stripe over the final 16 seconds to seal the win.

"We've lost by one possession in four games now," said Campbell head coach Billy Lee. "And tonight, we just didn't have the stabilizing forces down the stretch. We're getting into position to win games, but we're just not making the plays to go ahead and get it done."

In a game that saw five ties and eight lead changes, JSU jumped out to a 14-10 lead on a 3-pointer by Scott Watson, but Campbell scored eight straight to build an 18-14 lead after Tarick Johnson sank a trey from the top of the key. Johnson finished with a game-high 22 points, the fifth time he has tossed in at least 20 points in the last six games.

Jax State fought back to take its largest lead of the first half, 29-23, on a 15-foot jumper by Richardson, but Campbell rallied to hold a 38-36 halftime lead.

In the second half, the Gamecocks held the largest lead of the game, 54-47 on a lay-up by Denson with 12:22 remaining in the game. But Campbell scrambled back to take a 72-71 lead on a 3-point play by Derek Gray at the 4:42 mark.

Jonte' Edwards finished with 19 points for Campbell, which finished the game with a season-high 65.1 percent (28-of-43) from the field. Meanwhile, the Gamecocks also shot the ball well, hitting 57.4 percent for the game, including a 63.6 percent effort in the second half. [Box Score]