Jacksonville State beats Tennessee Tech 51-44

Feb 25, 2018, 04:19 am

COOKEVILLE, Tenn. -- Christian Cunningham scored 10 points and grabbed 12 rebounds and Jacksonville State beat Tennessee Tech 51-44 on Saturday night in a regular season finale with postseason implications.

The Gamecocks (20-11, 11-7 Ohio Valley Conference) came into the game tied with Tennessee Tech for fourth place in the OVC standings after upsetting Belmont 78-67 on Thursday. The win gives them the No. 4 seed in the conference tournament.

Marlon Hunter added 14 points with five rebounds for JSU. Jason Burnell had 12 points and Norbertas Giga 11.

JSU took an early lead in the first half and held it, building to a 26-19 advantage at the break.

Malcolm Drumwright sank a 3-pointer early in the second and Burnell and Jamall Gregory had back-to-back dunks midway to help push the lead to 45-35 with 9:23 to play. Tennessee Tech cut it to 51-48 with 4:34 to go but could not get closer.

Kajon Mack scored 16 points for the Golden Eagles (18-13, 10-8).