RICHMOND, Ky. – The Jacksonville men's basketball team upset the Atlantic Sun's No.1 overall seed in the ASUN tournament in Eastern Kentucky, winning 67-65 in an instant classic on a Tuesday night.

In a game that featured 17 lead changes and 17 ties, the 10th-seeded Dolphins marched into Alumni Coliseum, led for 22 minutes, and hit 90% of their free throws to upset the regular-season champion Colonels.
 
Bryce Workman, entering the game with 980 career points, scored 25 and had 12 rebounds for his second consecutive double-double of the ASUN Tournament, thus surpassing the 1,000-point mark in his career. The sixth-year player, Bryce Workman, locked down the conference's player and defensive player of the year, Isaiah Cozart, limiting him to 50% shooting from the field, his lowest field goal percentage in nearly two months. Additionally, Workman was a perfect 7-7 from the free-throw line and shot 60% from the floor.
 
In the brightest moments, some people simply shine the brightest. That bright light continues to be Robert McCray V. The redshirt sophomore had 24 points, his 14th game with at least 20, and added a game-high four assists.
 
The first half saw JU's trademark defense lock down the Colonels early. Until the 14:43 mark, the Dolphins jumped ahead to a 12-4 lead after a layup from Zach Bell. That eight-point lead was the most the two sides would be separated by in the remainder of the nail-biting game. EKU battled back with an 8-2 run until the 9:44 mark, and suddenly the regular season champion Colonels were up by two.
 
After a driving layup from McCray, Stephon Payne III stole the ball on the defensive side, and McCray drained a triple for a five-point burst, and the Dolphins had a 22-19 lead with 8:37 left. For the next six-plus minutes, the two sides were separated by more than one point only on two possessions, and a turnaround jumper from Workman followed by a made triple from McCray saw JU up 33-27 with just over two minutes to play in the half. The rest of the way, Colonels went on a 7-0 run, which was capped by a made and-one from Cozart with under three seconds to play in the half, to give EKU the momentum heading into the break.
 
Notables of the first half had McCray and Workman combine for 26 points, and Workman was more than halfway to his double-double with six boards in the first 20.
 
While the second half had a lot of the same juice that the first half had in the tightly contested matchup, the Dolphins only trailed by more than two points for 24 seconds. Workman hit and converted a huge and-one with 8:20 to play to tie and then give JU the lead, and Jacksonville never looked back. The Dolphins were electric down the stretch and understood what needed to be done to complete the upset.
 
EKU threw everything and the kitchen sink at JU to keep the game within arms reach the entire way. When the Colonels tied the game at the 3:54 mark, they played lockdown defense on JU, and the shot clock was rampantly winding down, but Marcus Niblack hit a spinning fadeaway jumper to beat the buzzer and swished the ball to give the Dolphins a 61-59 edge. Just 16 seconds later, EKU responded with a jumper itself.
 
In a physical game, Workman got fouled again down low with 2:02 to play, and with the EKU student section in his face and as loud as it had been in the second half, Workman sunk both tries to give the edge back to the Dolphins, 63-61. Again, EKU would respond, this time with a layup, and the game was all square at 63-63 with 1:34 to play.
 
25 seconds later, McCray stepped to the free-throw line after being fouled by Cozart, which was his fourth foul, and sank one of two. At that point in the game, it was the Dolphins' only miss from the charity stripe. Going back the other way was EKU, and it had its first real opportunity to grab the lead in nearly six minutes, and with a minute to go. The Dolphins had played their toughest defense when they needed to, and that they did. A missed jumper from Michael Moreno was met in the air by a soaring McCray, who snatched the ball away from the conference leading Cozart and went back the other way.
 
With JU trying to milk the clock and clinging to a one-point lead, the Dolphins found themselves battling the shot clock, and McCray was getting double-teamed and seemed to have no escape. With three seconds on the shot clock and 24 in the game, McCray found Stephon Payne III in the corner, and Payne instinctively sent the ball to a driving Workman, who just beat the buzzer and gave JU a three-point edge with just 21 seconds to play. Down the other end, Cozart wound up at the Charity stripe and missed one of two, 66-64 Dolphins. Gyasi Powell then did the same for the Dolphins with eight seconds left. EKU in the last eight seconds then had four free throws, down 67-64, and only sunk one of its tries. In poetic fashion, Workman grabbed the final rebound as time expired, and Jacksonville walked out of Richmond with the largest upset in Atlantic Sun postseason history.
 

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UP NEXT
The Dolphins will travel to their oldest rival in the ASUN in Stetson on Thursday, March 7, for the semifinals of the Atlantic Sun Tournament. Tipoff is slated for a 7 pm start, and the game can be watched on ESPN+, or heard on the radio on 1010XL. For ticket information, click here.