‘Special player’
- Updated: February 6, 2025
Extra day off makes big difference as Pierre erupts for 36 points to lead Jax State men to victory, two-game lead in CUSA
By Joe Medley
East Alabama Sports Today
JACKSONVILLE — All Jaron Pierre Jr. needed, turns out, was an extra day off.
A Monday off of practice after the team had Sunday off helped him to rest tendonitis in his right leg, and Monday off translated into Pierre’s 36-point outburst Thursday.
Jacksonville State downed Middle Tennessee State 77-63 in a battle of Conference USA’s first- and second-place teams.
The Gamecocks (16-7) won their seventh game in a row, all in CUSA play, and improved to 8-2 in the league. MTSU (15-8) fell to 6-4 in CUSA play, giving Jax State a two-game lead headed into Saturday’s home conference game with Western Kentucky.
The Gamecocks drew even with MTSU after losing 81-64 in Murfreesboro on Jan. 11.
Pierre said his day off made a “real difference.”
That would seem to bear out, statistically. He was 30-for-96 (31.3 percent) from the floor during the first six games of Jax State’s winning streak. He was 13-for-24 Thursday, 10-for-16 from behind the 3-point line.
His 36 points matched the most in a game at home by a Jax State player since moving to NCAA Division I.
Pierre said his slump during the first six games of the winning streak was more to do with “putting pressure on myself.”
“It was just thinking too much instead of just playing,” he said.
Pierre is a 6-foot-6 shooting guard and senior from New Orleans. The redshirt senior had stops at Southern Miss and Wichita State before coming to Jax State.
He led the Gamecocks in scoring coming into Thursday’s game, averaging 20.3 points. He scored 25 points in the first half.
“He’s a special player,” Jax State coach Ray Harper said. “He really is, and I’ve had some really good ones. When he’s right, he’s as good as any of them.
“We’ve played him a lot of minutes. He had a nagging injury, nothing serious. After talking with our trainers, we thought it was best to give him Monday off to try to recoup and get a little treatment.”
Harper said Pierre “looked different the last couple of days.”
“He had the explosiveness back,” Harper said. “He’s one of those guys where you have to pull him out of the game. He wants to be in non-stop.”
Pierre had plenty of help Thursday. Koree Cotton added 17 points and Michael Houge 13.
It was more than enough to overcome 17 points from MTSU’s Jestin Porter and 11 from Jlynn Counter.
Jax State hit 16 of 29 3-pointers overall, hitting almost as many 3-pointers as the Blue Raiders hit field goals (20).
The Gamecocks led from Cotton’s 3-pointer to make 11-9 at 15:18 of the first half on. They led 48-34 at halftime
“There’s only been one (other) game in this league that we led at the half, and that was Florida International,” Harper said. “We trailed every other game.
“That was the difference in the game when we played them at Middle. They hit us quick, and it was 14-2, 15-2 before we knew what hit us. We responded at their place, but then we lost Mason (Nicholson) at halftime with a concussion, and it was just too much to overcome.”
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