@unco_mbb Earns Come From Behind Win

Saturday, December 20

Greeley, Colo.

7:00 p.m.

University of Northern Colorado

5-5

Jacksonville State University

7-5

JSU

UNCO

Photo by: Ed Navarro

12/20/2014 10:42:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score

The Bears scored the final 11 points of the game to come from behind and beat Jacksonville State, 69-60 at home. UNC remains a perfect 5-0 at home on the year.

By: UNCBears.com

GREELEY, Colo. – The men's basketball team (5-5) snapped it's three game losing skid on Saturday night downing Jacksonville State (7-5), 69-60 at Bank of Colorado Arena. The Bears remain a perfect 5-0 at home on the year.

For the second straight game UNC was paced by senior forward, Tim Huskisson dropping a game-high 24 points on 8-10 shooting. After coming up one stat short of back-to-back double-doubles, senior forward Dominique Lee solidified it tonight, scoring 18 points and hauling in 10 rebounds. Senior guard Tevin Svihovec was the third Bear in double-digits. Svihovec tallied 13 points and added five boards in the win.

Northern Colorado was dominant down low, outscoring the Gamecocks 44-16 on points in the paint.

"Hopefully this type of game was the experience the guys needed to get it turned around," said head coach B.J. Hill. "The only thing I talked about in the locker room after the game was their field goal percentage, holding them in the 40's, which was the number we have been begging for all year and then the second one I pointed out was the fact that we out rebounded them by five. That's how you win games and that's how you win close games when you don't necessarily play your best."

A quick 8-0 run by JSU to start the game gave the Gamecocks the early lead. A lead which they would keep for over 19 minutes in the first half.

Two shots at the charity stripe from J.D. Felder lifted Jacksonville State to an 11 point advantage, 15-6 with 13:13 to go in the first half, the largest span between the two teams all night.

Under five minutes to play in the half, Huskisson drove down low and kissed it off the glass and in, drawing the foul. The senior's attempt at the line would be off the mark, but the basket sparked a 6-0 run from the Bears ending on a fastbreak layup from senior guard, Corey Spence to cut the deficit down to one, 28-27 with 1:30 remaining on the clock.

The Gamecocks snapped the streak with a deep ball from Avery Moore, pushing the lead back up to four.

The Bears battled back with a free throw from Svihovec and two from Spence, chipping away at the lead.

With seven seconds to go, Lee had an easy lay in off the bounce pass from Svihovec, putting Northern Colorado ahead for the the first time in the game, 32-21.

UNC went into the half with the one point edge.

"I'm not sure where the runs tonight came from," said Hill. "Maybe it was the combinations we had in, in terms of personnel, but we had some guys that really struggled tonight and that can't continue. We are still searching for that eighth guy, and that position has been up for grabs for practically the entire season, and it just seems like nobody wants to step up and take those minutes."

Fans at Bank of Colorado Arena saw the lead change eight different times in the second half.

Three points was the largest lead for either team in the first nine minutes of action.

Another shot from downtown by JSU's Moore ignited a quick, 5-0 run giving the Gamecocks a 48-45 lead with 9:37 remaining in the game.

Jacksonville State held that lead for the next six minutes and pushed it to as many as six.

Lee started the comeback run for the Bears, nailing a wide open three-pointer, followed by another three-ball from Huskisson two possessions later, making it a one possession game, 58-56 with 4:14 to play.

Coming out of the final media timeout Northern Colorado exploded, throwing down three straight dunks off of three straight JSU turnovers, boasting a five point advantage with less than two minutes to go.

A cutting Svihovec layup proved to be the dagger for the Gamecocks, making it a 67-60 ballgame in favor of UNC with 44 seconds to go.

Sophomore guard, Jordan Wilson padded the score line with two free throws with 19 seconds on the clock, giving the Bears their fifth win of the season, 69-60.

UNC had their fifth shooting performance above 50% on the year, connecting on 26-49 (53.1%) from the floor. Northern Colorado hit 3-10 (30.0%) on shots from beyond the arc.

Jacksonville State finished 22-49 (44.9%) from the field and 7-19 (36.8%) from three-point land.

"Jacksonville state played really, really hard. They do some really good things and we're not going to be able to start like we did tonight against UC Davis. They are an extremely good team who has won some big road games and we can't continue to hurt ourselves and get behind like we have in our last few games."

Northern Colorado will now face an 8-1, UC Davis team at home on one day's rest. Tipoff from Bank of Colorado Arena is set for 7:00 p.m.