A recurring theme for the Skyhawk men’s basketball team this season has been its inability to close out its opponents when it has a lead in the second half. That was the case again Saturday night as they dropped a hard-fought game on the road to Jacksonville State by a score of 85-80.

The Skyhawks were in the game until the end and saw their chances for victory slip away as JSU sank 8 of 9 free throws in the final 1:08 of the game. Zerek Knight committed a costly foul on JSU’s B.J. Spencer as he launched a three-point attempt with the Gamecocks’ lead down to two points. Spencer made two of three free throws to extend the Gamecock lead to 79-75. A Jared Newson three-pointer with 27.6 seconds remaining in the game cut the lead to 81-78, but that was as close as the Skyhawks would get.

“It’s the little things,” said Skyhawk head coach Bret Campbell.

“We had 17 turnovers, including a big one late in the game. We jumped into a shooter when the shot clock was going down. Zerek is one of our best defenders, but just got a little overexcited there. We just can’t seem to put ourselves in a situation where we’re ahead, and we keep coming up short,” Campbell said.

Newson led the Skyhawks with 19 points, while Jeremy Kelly added 16 points. Will Lewis posted his first double-double of the season with 11 points and 10 rebounds.

The Skyhawks attacked the offensive glass aggressively in the early stages of the game. McKale Jones had two baskets as a result of offensive rebounds as the Skyhawks led for most of the first nine minutes of the game. The Gamecocks took advantage of a rare five-point play to claim a 21-17 lead with 10:14 remaining in the first half.

The Skyhawks’ Jason Thompson was whistled for a foul away from the ball as Spencer connected on a three-pointer. The Gamecocks got the ball out-of-bounds and the new possession resulted in a Courtney Bradley lay-up. The unusual sequence of events shifted the momentum to the Gamecocks for the remainder of the half.

The Skyhawks made 12-of-16 free throws in the first half and out-rebounded the Gamecocks, 21-18, but still trailed, 44-38, at the half.

The second half opened with a Skyhawk run as they took advantage of every possession and heated up from the perimeter. McClenon Tolliver hit a pair of three-pointers to key the run, including the game-tying shot with 12:37 remaining in the game. Kelly followed that with a three of his own to put the Skyhawks ahead, 56-53. The lead was short-lived, however, as the Gamecocks put together a 7-0 run of their own to regain the lead at 62-59 barely three minutes later. After falling behind by as many as seven points, the Skyhawks, true to their resilient nature, rallied to within one point when Knight made a lay-up with 6:16 remaining in the game. A series of turnovers by both teams kept the margin about the same for several minutes. During that stretch, the Skyhawks were unable to capitalize on several opportunities to claim the lead. A lay-up by Kelly made the score 74-73 with 2:41 left to play. Knight’s foul, as harmful as it was, still did not sink the Skyhawks. Although the Gamecocks extended their lead to six points with only 34 seconds remaining, the game was still not out of reach for the Skyhawks. They remained aggressive on defense, which enabled Newson to make his three-pointer.

The Skyhawks shot well from the floor in the loss, making 57 percent of their attempts in the second half and 51 percent for the game. They finished the game with 37 rebounds to the Gamecocks’ 33, including 14 offensive rebounds.

“Our guys’ effort is there. Sometimes our decision-making isn’t quite there,” Campbell said. “In the second half, our shot selection wasn’t great and we gave them too many free throws,” he said.

The Gamecocks attempted 19 free throws in the second half, knocking down 15 of them. The two teams combined for 42 fouls and 54 attempted free throws.

The loss dropped the Skyhawks’ record to 7-12 overall, including 4-9 in OVC play. It was their fourth consecutive loss. The team returned home for a game against Eastern Kentucky on Monday night. Their next contest will be Thursday at 8 p.m. in the Elam Center when the Skyhawks take on Tennessee Tech. The game will be televised on ESPNU, a new ESPN network devoted to college sports.