Samford holds on to beat Jacksonville State 77-71

JACKSONVILLE, Ala. (AP) Darius Jones-Gibson scored 21 points and Samford held on to beat Jacksonville State 77-71 on Tuesday night.

Jones-Gibson was 5 of 9 from the field and made 10 of 11 free throws. Jamal Shabazz scored 13 points and Alex Peters chipped in 10 for Samford (6-2), which bounced back after having its five-game winning streak snapped against Austin Peay, 74-73 on Nov. 28.

Malcolm Drumwright scored 21 points on 7-of-10 shooting to lead Jacksonville State (3-7). Christian Cunningham and Cam Biedscheid added 14 points apiece.

The Bulldogs stretched their halftime lead to 59-52 midway through the second half. The Gamecocks used a 6-0 spurt to pull to 59-58, and the Bulldogs answered with a 8-0 surge to make it 67-59 with 3:43 remaining.

Back-to-back 3-pointers by Erik Durham and Biedscheid pulled Jacksonville State to 74-71 with 16 seconds left. Jones-Gibson made 3 of 4 free throws to seal it.