BOX SCORE

JACKSONVILLE – The Jacksonville men's basketball team dug itself a first half hole that was a little too deep on Saturday night, when Presbyterian College held on for a 59-55 win at Pete Mathews Coliseum on senior night.

The Gamecocks (11-17) fell behind by as many as 20 in the first 20 minutes to the Blue Hose (5-23) and got as close as two in the final minute of the game, but PC converted from the line in the final seconds to preserve the win. It was JSU's fourth-straight loss.

Junior Nick Murphy scored 17 points and grabbed nine rebounds to lead the Gamecocks, while sophomore Stephen Hall scored 12 and grabbed seven boards. Junior Jeremy Bynum rounded out a trio of Gamecocks in double figures with 11 points.

The Gamecocks' lone senior, Amadou Mbodji scored seven points and hauled in five boards in his final game at Pete Mathews Coliseum. The Kaolack, Senegal, native also blocked a shot to run his career record to 157.

Presbyterian was led by Walt Allen and Jake Troyli, who each scored 14 points and pulled in six rebounds apiece. The Blue Hose shot 67 percent as a team in the first half and held the Gamecocks to a 29 percent clip to build a 36-18 lead at the intermission. JSU turned up the heat in the final 20 minutes, holding PC to a 6-for-21 effort the rest of the way, but couldn't muster enough of a rally to catch up.

Turnovers proved costly for the Gamecocks, who committed seven in each half that led to 15 PC points. Sophomore John Barnes dished five assists and turned it over five times, while sophomore Dominique Shellman had five assists and four turnovers.

PC hit its first five shots from the floor to build an early 12-6 lead and kept pulling away from there. The Blue Hose would take a 36-16 lead, their largest of the night, on a pair of Ryan Hargave free throws with 2:09 remaining in the half. A Murphy lay in 30 seconds later would cut that lead to the 18-point halftime difference.

JSU slowly cut into the deficit, finally pulling within single digits on a Hall putback with 10:38 remaining that cut the lead to 42-33. PC would have an answer, though, rattling off a 7-1 run to push its advantage back to 15 points with eight minutes on the clock.

After nipping away at the deficit again, a pair of Hall jumpers cut the PC lead to 55-53 in the game's final 30 seconds, but Troyli would convert on four attempts from the charity stripe to keep Jax State out of striking distance.

The Gamecocks will wrap up the regular season on Saturday at Tennessee Tech in Cookeville, Tenn. JSU and the Golden Eagles are tied for sixth place in the Ohio Valley Conference standings, meaning the winner of the finale will travel to play the No. 3 seed in the first round of the OVC Tournament. The loser will occupy either the seventh or eighth seed in the tourney.