Courtesy of Tennessee State Athletic Communications.
NASHVILLE — Tahjere McCall (Philadelphia, Pa.) finished with 19 points and a career high nine assists, but the Tennessee State men’s basketball team was handed an 86-79 loss by Jacksonville State on Saturday night at the Gentry Center in Ohio Valley Conference action.
Four other Tigers (12-8, 3-4 OVC) also scored in double digits on the night including Delano Spencer (Atlanta, Ga.) with 17, Wayne Martin (Brooklyn, N.Y.) with 15, Armani Chaney (Chicago, Ill.) with 12 and Jordan Reed (Philadelphia, Pa.) with 10.
TSU trailed Jacksonville State (13-9, 5-2 OVC) by a 44-32 margin at the half before cutting the deficit down to four in the second half. The Gamecocks regained the momentum and shot 24-of-28 from the free throw line in the second half to pick up the road win.
The Tigers dug themselves a 9-2 hole five minutes into the game as the Gamecocks connected on their first three shots.
TSU’s deficit grew to double digits over the next five minutes as JSU claimed a 23-12 advantage.
The Tigers were able to trim the lead down to six on two occasions before the intermission, but JSU closed the half on a 9-4 run to take a 44-32 lead into the half. Chaney delivered 10 first half points for the Tigers.
Sparked by a 10-2 run early in the second half, TSU got back into the game and was down just four at 48-44 with 15 minutes to play in the second half. Spencer fueled the run with threes on back-to-back possessions.
Trailing by six with 8:30 to play, the Gamecocks embarked on an 8-0 run to put the Tigers down 67-54. TSU continued to battle and was down just four at 55-51 with 10:43 to play. JSU used a 13-2 run to put the game out of reach down the stretch.
Malcolm Drumwright led all scorers with 20 points for the visiting Gamecocks.
As a team, TSU finished with a season-high 19 assists and turned the ball over just 12 times on the night.
Up next, TSU travels to Edwardsville, Ill. to take on SIUE on Wednesday, Jan. 25.
GAME NOTES: Tennessee State’s all-time record in the series versus Jacksonville State is now 17-12… Delano Spencer (Atlanta, Ga.) and Armani Chaney (Chicago, Ill.) earned their first career starts in a TSU uniform.
Head Coach Dana Ford
“All the credit to Jacksonville State, they have a really good team. They play at a really good pace and they are well coached. We just lost to a better team tonight.”
– On Loss to Jacksonville State
“I think their offense game plan was better than our defensive game plan. As coaches, we need to go back and reevaluate ourselves and put our players in a better position to be more successful. We just need to get back to where we can guard people.”
– On the Teams Defensive Play
“I thought we played more like a team tonight. We tried to execute some things and we tried to move the ball. We just lost to a better team. We will give them a day off and hopefully we will regroup and comeback ready to go to work and play another good team.”
– On What the Team can Build On
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