Taylor scores 30 and Austin Peay knocks off Jacksonville St.

Feb 3, 2019, 01:01 am

JACKSONVILLE, Ala. -- Terry Taylor scored 30 points and found a cutting Jabari McGhee for the winning basket with 21.3 seconds left as Austin Peay beat Jacksonville State 74-71 on Saturday to drop the Gamecocks into a first-place tie in the Ohio Valley Conference.

Austin Peay led by 19 in the first half before JSU rallied to tie early in the second, then the Governors rebuilt an 11-point edge only to see the Gamecocks take their first lead at 71-70 on two free throws by Ty Hudson with 35.1 remaining. That's when Taylor passed the ball to McGhee who laid it in and added a free throw for a 3-point play. Hudson missed a long 3-point attempt and Taylor added a final free throw.

The Gamecocks opened the second half with an 11-3 run to tie the game with 16 minutes left. The Governors responded with a 13-2 run to lead by 11 with 9:21 remaining.

Austin Peay led 18-2 before the Gamecocks got their first field goal. The Governors increased their lead to 23-4 with 11:52 left in the half but JSU got back within 39-31 at the break.

The Governors (16-7, 8-2) beat the Gamecocks for the third straight time and handed JSU (16-7, 8-2) its first home loss of the season.

Jamall Gregory scored 19 points and Hunter 17 for JSU.