HUNTSVILLE — It wasn’t a pretty win, in the eyes of Jacksonville State Head Coach Ray Harper, but the No. 2 seed Gamecocks knocked off 10-seed Florida International 65-56 Wednesday in the quarterfinal round of the CUSA men’s basketball championship tournament at Propst Arena at the Von Braun Center.
With the win, Jacksonville State (21-11, 12-6 CUSA) advances to Friday’s semifinals to face the winner of today’s quarterfinal match between No. 3 Middle Tennessee State and No. 6 Louisiana Tech.
“Just proud of our guys, thought we competed,” Harper said. “It wasn’t always pretty tonight but have to give (FIU Head Coach) Jeremy (Ballard) and FIU a lot of credit. They competed.
“And you know, this time of year it’s about winning in advance, and we were able to do that this evening.”
Jaron Pierre Jr. and Quel’Ron House stole the show down the stretch for the Gamecocks combining for 37 of the team’s 65 points. The duo each had 11 points in the second half as the team shot 52.2 percent during the frame.
Pierre finished with a game-high 19 points, 11 boards and two blocks in the victory.
“I feel like it set us up for some good to come,” Pierre said. “It was a learning lesson. We played them twice. So that’s our 3rd time playing them. We knew they were going to come out and play hard.
“It’s just one down, two more to go.”
Friday’s game tips off at 2 p.m. and will be shown on the CBS Sports Network.
Liberty 81, Texas-El Paso 60
Top-seeded Liberty (26-6, 13-5 CUSA) used a strong 45-point second half to pull away from a pesky Miner squad to advance to Friday’s semifinals. The Flames will take on the winner of today’s quarterfinal match between No. 4 Kennesaw State and No. 5 New Mexico State.
Liberty began the second half shooting 86.7% from the floor (13-15) and 4-5 from beyond the arc. Their 58.2 field goal percentage is the highest clip in a CUSA tournament game since 2016.
Junior forward Zach Cleveland paced the offense with 19 points on 9-13 shooting while dishing out six assists. Kaden Metheny and Taelon Peter combined for eight of the team’s 12 three-pointers.
Friday’s semifinal game tips off at 11:30 a.m. and will be shown on the CBS Sports Network.
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