History
- Updated: March 18, 2025
Jax State men down Georgia Tech in first-ever NIT game, gain program’s third Division I postseason victory and first since 2018 CBI.
Editor’s note: Complete statistics for Jax State’s 81-64 victory over Georgia Tech on Tuesday can be found on this link.
By East Alabama Sports Today
ATLANTA — Conference USA player of the year Jaron Pierre Jr. poured in 30 points, and Jacksonville State’s men’s basketball team made program history.
Playing in their first National Invitation Tournament game, the Gamecocks went on the road to beat Georgia Tech 81-64 and earn a second-round road trip to player the Cal-Irvine-Northern Colorado winner.
The second round plays out March 22 and 23. Date, time and television info will be determined.
Jax State’s victory Tuesday marked the third postseason victory in the program’s Division I history and first since winning two games in the 2018 College Basketball Invitational. The Gamecocks lost their first two Division I NCAA Tournament games, to Louisville in 2017 and Auburn in 2022.
The CBI was established in 2007. The NIT and NCAA tournaments are the longest-running postseason tournaments.
Jax State moved up to Division I starting in 1995. The Gamecocks won the Division II NCAA title in 1985 and made two Final Fours and five Elite Eight appearances in Division II.
The Gamecocks (23-12) made the NIT field after finishing as CUSA runner up to Liberty.
The Gamecocks also scored their second win over an active power-conference team in program history, and the first since beating Alabama during the 1952-53 season.
“I was asked by ESPN today what they need to know about this team,” Jax State coach Ray Harper said. “I said, you need to know that they’ll compete.
“I don’t know the outcome, but we will compete. And I think they showed that tonight. They’ve shown it all year, so it’s not bad when you can always feel like you got the best player on the floor to run.”
Jax State’s victory also goes down as No. 600 for ninth-year Gamecocks coach Ray Harper. He’s 600-251 overall, including a 169-124 record at Jax State.
Harper has coached Jax State through all of its Division I postseason appearances and five of the Gamecocks’ six 20-win seasons since moving up to Division I in 1995.
Pierre made 11 of 18 shots, including five of 10 3-point shots.
The Gamecocks also got 16 points from Marcellus Bingham Jr., who hit four of five 3-point shots. Jax State hit 15 of 30 threes overall.
“I thought we took good shots,” Harper said. “We hit a little bit of a funk late in the year, if you looked at our stat sheets and watched film, our assist numbers were low and because of it, we were having to take some difficult shots, but tonight I thought we did a great job getting paint touches.”
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