Drew Kelly scored 20 points to lead Morehead State past Jacksonville State 63-55 on Thursday night.
Jacksonville State (5-12, 0-4 Ohio Valley Conference) closed the gap to 54-53 with 1:43 left in the second half behind two Stephen Hall free throws. But Kelly knocked down a jumper and two free throws to extend the Eagles' lead to 58-53 with only 20 seconds left to play.
Jacksonville State outshot Morehead State from the field 50 percent (19 of 38) to 43.8 percent (21 of 48) but allowed the Eagles to score 19 second-chance points off of 13 offensive rebounds.
Morehead State (8-8, 2-1) got 22 points from its bench compared to just 10 for Jacksonville State.
Hall led Jacksonville State with 15 points and nine rebounds.
The Gamecocks entered halftime with a 27-23 lead but were outscored 40-28 in the second half.
