February 10, 2000

Jacksonville, Ala. - The JSU Gamecocks held on to second place in the Trans America Athletic Conference race with a hard fought 74-68 win over JU. The victory improves the'Cocks record to 14-8, 9-4 while the Dolphins 8-14, 5-9 had their winning streak snapped at three.

The lead changes were frequent as well as seven first half ties. JU took its largest lead, 18-13, on a Calvin Slaughter jumper with 14:14 left in the first half. JSU responded with a seven point spurt and regained a two point lead, 20-18, with 8:20 left. The lead would change four more times before a Shawn Philpotts jumper gave JSU a 30-29 lead with 2:23 to go in the half. JU would not lead again.

In fact, the Gamecocks looked to make it an easy win outscoring JU 23-12 in the first 10:40 of the second half to take their largest lead at 59-45. But the Dolphins answered with a 23-14 run over the final ten-plus minutes of the game and trailed by just four with less than a minute to go. Two Rashard Willie free throws with :16 left created the final margin.

Calvin Slaughter's game-high 18 points paced three Dolphins in double figures. Marvin Augustin and Brandon Williams added 15 and 10, respectively. Augustin also contributed a game-high 9 rebounds. Shawn Platts re-injured his right knee and sat out the final minutes, scoring just 9 points and adding a team-high 4 assists.