ASUN basketball: Jacksonville University rallies behind guard Robert McCray V to beat EKU

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For the third time this season and the fourth meeting in a row, Jacksonville University proved to be green Kryptonite for the Eastern Kentucky Colonels.

Junior guard Robert McCray V scored 16 of his team-high 26 points in the second half, junior center Stephon Payne III returned from an ankle injury to provide an emotional lift off the bench with 10 points and the Dolphins rallied from an 11-point halftime deficit to beat EKU 78-67 on Monday at Swisher Gym to advance to the ASUN men’s basketball semifinals.

JU swept Eastern Kentucky (18-14) during the regular season and ousted the top-seeded Colonels from the ASUN Tournament last year as the 10th seed. The first three victories for the Dolphins over EKU over that span were by an average of 4.3 points and it was another gut-wrenching game with the Dolphins clinging to a three-point lead, 64-61, with 4:28 left before JU ended the game on a 14-6 run.

The rivalry has been a pitched battle, with every shot, rebound and loose ball contested, and both teams playing to the brink of exhaustion.

“[JU coach] Jordan Mincy does a great job getting his kids to play incredibly hard,” said EKU coach A.W. Hamilton, who has had to weather the loss of his leading scorer and point guard George Kimble III (18.0 points per game) for the last seven games of the season with an injury. “We have a lot of respect for Jacksonville and it’ll be like this next year.”

Mincy returned the compliments.

“A.W. is an unbelievable coach, does a great job of recruiting and a great job of developing,” he said. “When you look at our styles of play, we’re very similar. We came out on the winning side but they deserved to win as well. They put the same amount of effort in. Those kids and that staff work extremely hard.”

Jacksonville Dolphins guard Robert McCray V (13) shoots the ball against Eastern Kentucky Colonels forward Devontae Blanton (10) during the second half of the quarterfinal round of the ASUN men’s basketball tournament at Swisher…

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Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/article/asun-basketball-jacksonville-university-rallies-043817524.html

Author : The Florida Times-Union

Publish date : 2025-03-04 04:38:00

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