JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – The Jacksonville University men's basketball team (9-8, 3-4 ASUN) had Liberty (13-5, 5-2 ASUN) on the ropes on Friday night inside Swisher Gymnasium but a late surge from the visiting side doomed JU, 59-54.

Jacksonville was paced by Tyreese Davis who put up his second 20-point game of the season to go with five rebounds, four assists and a pair of blocks. He was 6-12 from the floor, 3-5 from deep and 5-7 from the free throw line. His key supporter was Dontarius James who entered the game as the ASUN's leading scorer at 18.0 points per game. James scored 15 points with four boards and a pair of steals.

Jacksonville held the Flames to just 37.0 percent shooting from the floor and 23.3 percent from long range but Liberty returned the favor, holding JU to similar numbers. The game was truly balanced in most aspects aside from the staggering scoring push from Liberty down the stretch. Jacksonville had held the Flames to just 33 points over the first 32 minutes and 33 seconds of the game. Liberty scored 26 over the last 8:27 to steal the game away.

Jacksonville trailed 6-0 early on but chipped away, never facing a deficit of more than six throughout the first half. Davis drilled a triple to tie the game for the first time with 2:06 to go in the half then James knocked down a pair of free throws with just over a minute to play to lock the score at 22. Both sides made stops at the end to send this game to the locker rooms tied.

The Dolphins claimed their first lead when Trey Sides nailed is lone triple of the game with 18:15 to go. Some back-and-forth ensued until a Davis triple off a turnover gave JU its first three-point lead of the evening. By the 6:59 mark, Jacksonville had built a nine-point lead, 42-33, and were rolling defensively, having held Liberty without a field goal for nearly five minutes.

Liberty used a 10-0 run to push back into the lead and extended that run to 13-0 before James stopped the bleeding with a triple at the 2:57 mark. But that was as close as Jacksonville came as Liberty was able to build out a lead as large as eight in the final minute that settled into a five-point spread as the final horn.

Jacksonville will still be in search of its first win over Liberty when these two sides take the floor on Saturday night. That game will tip at 6 p.m. and air on ESPN+