BOX SCORE

MARTIN, Tenn. – Big nights from Nick Murphy and Stephen Hall were able to help the Jacksonville State basketball team overcome its miscues and escape Skyhawk Arena with a 73-63 win on Saturday night.

Murphy led all scorers with 22 points and Hall notched his second double-double of the year with 10 points and 13 rebounds to help the Gamecocks (7-10, 3-4 Ohio Valley Conference) snap a 10-game road losing streak and pull to within a game of .500 before returning home for a four-game homestand. It was their first win over the defending OVC champion Skyhawks (2-14, 0-7) in the last four meetings.

Murphy was 9-for-12 on the night from the floor en route to his second-best scoring output of the year. The Bronx, N.Y., native had 12 in the first half and also finished the night with five boards and an assist. Hall, a Birmingham, Ala., native mustered 10 points but led all players with his 13 rebounds. He also dished a career-best six assists and blocked a shot.

Junior Trenton Marshall added 16 points, 12 of which came in the second half, as the only other Gamecock in double figures and grabbed five boards. Jeremy Bynum scored eight points, all in the final five minutes, and John Barnes added eight for the Gamecock offense. Senior Amadou Mbodji came off of the bench to grab seven boards and block four shots in 19 minutes on the floor.

JSU committed a season-high 20 turnovers and shot just 61 percent from the free throw line but a big defensive stand late in the game allowed the Gamecocks to pull off the win. UTM got a career-best 10 points and eight assists from Cataurius Taylor, while M.J. Brown and Marquis Weddle each added 11. The league's second-leading scorer, Benzor Simmons, managed just six points for the Skyhawks.

Murphy and the Gamecocks stormed out of the gates to start the game, as Murphy scored JSU's first eight points to help build an early 14-2 lead. JSU made seven of its first eight shots before going cold the rest of the half. A 5-for-19 drought the rest of the way allowed the Skyhawks to pull into a 29-29 tie at the half.

Murphy ended up taking 12 points into the locker room, thanks to a 6-for-6 effort from the floor. Hall hauled in seven boards and topped his career best with five assists before the break, but he also turned it over five times. UT Martin got seven points from Zach Jones and forced 13 first-half turnovers to even the game before the intermission.

The Skyhawks' Catauris Taylor scored the first four points of the second half to give his team its first lead of the night, but the Gamecocks scored the next four to even it again. UTM would grab another four-point advantage at 35-31 and held the upper hand for the next four minutes before a Marshall 3-pointer with 12:42 on the clock gave the Gamecocks a 42-39 lead that the Skyhawks wouldn't be able to overcome.

JSU didn't get the lead higher than four points until the final minutes, when a 3-pointer from junior Jeremy Bynum, his first bucket of the night, with 4:19 remaining gave the Gamecocks a six-point advantage. After struggling for much of the night from the free throw line, the OVC's top free throw shooting team was able to sink its final five to escape the Elam Center with its first road win of the year.

The Gamecocks now return home for a four-game homestand that will begin on Thursday with a game against Tennessee State that will be nationally televised on ESPNU. Tipoff is set for 6 p.m. CT, and all general admission tickets will be just $1, while the first 1,000 students through the gates will receive free pizza. Also, Club Level Season Tickets for 2010 Gamecock football will go on sale to the public and can be purchased at the game.