The Chanticleer

Issue date: 2/2/06 Section: Sports

Media Credit: Chris Yow Anthony Wilson shoots one of his three 3-point attempts early in the game against UT-Martin.

Four games.

That's how many consecutive games JSU's Courtney Bradley has scored 20 points or more.

The junior from Utica, Miss., continued the success he had against Eastern Kentucky and Morehead State with a pair of double-doubles

JSU got 10 rebounds and a career-high 31 points from junior Courtney Bradley as the Gamecocks held off Austin Peay 91-86 on January 26.

Austin Peay found an early way to put JSU in a hole, keep point guard Walker D. Russell off the floor.

While Austin Peay jumped out to an early 13-3 lead, Russell, JSU's leading assist man, sat on the bench after recording his third foul.

Jacksonville State battled back, led by three consecutive buckets by Bradley to tie the game at 17 with just over ten minutes before the half.

From there, the Governors took control.

Austin Peay's Drake Reed's lay-up made it 35-24 with 4:03 left, but JSU would close the half out on a 10-5 run to cut the APSU lead to 39-34 at the break.

"All we were trying to do was stay within ten at the half. I almost put him [Russell] back in," JSU coach Mike LaPlante said. "We got down eleven. I said 'Shoot, I can't go down twenty. We won't come back down twenty.' He gets to the table and we get back-to-back buckets to knock it to seven. I said, 'Anything under ten I can deal with.'"

The Governors came out in the second half and pushed the lead to 53-39 with 15:04 left in the game. LaPlante had no choice but to attack Austin Peay's offense with the press.

"We said, "We gotta let it all hang out right now. Walk D, if you pick up your fourth foul, you pick it up. We just gotta go after it."

The pressure yielded points immediately. With Russell back on the floor, the Gamecocks battled back with an 18-6 run over the next 4:33, capped by a series of three plays that tied the game and gave JSU momentum.

Bradley slapped the ball from Drake Reed's hands and followed it up with a dunk to cut the lead to 4. Bradley finished the game with 31 points and 10 rebounds.

Russell and B.J. Spencer combined for back-to-back threes. Spencer tied the game at 59 with ten minutes to play.

Continued...

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