CONWAY, Ark. – Robert McCray V scored his 1,000th collegiate point Thursday, leading Jacksonville University to a 77-62 win over Central Arkansas.
McCray finished with a team-high 16 points as Jacksonville (16-9, 10-3) improved to a perfect 6-0 on the road in conference play. The program's 6-0 start to road conference games is the team's best since the 1986-1987 season.
The junior guard McCray now has 1,010 points scored in his NCAA career, with 984 points scored in a Jacksonville uniform.
Adding to his night, McCray tied the team-high in rebounds (five), led the team in assists (four) and tied the team-high in steals (two).
Running beside McCray in scoring was freshman Kent Jackson.
Jackson, a Jacksonville native, scored a career-high 14 points to finish second on the team in scoring. The freshman had previously scored six points five separate times but tied that mark on his first two shots in the first half.
Jackson finished 5-7 from the field and 4-6 from deep. He also added one board and one assist in 19 minutes of play.
HOW IT HAPPENED
The Dolphins took the lead to start the contest behind a McCray made jumper and never looking back, taking a wire-to-wire win.
JU led by a 9-1 margin over five minutes in before UCA scored its first bucket from the field. At the 6:26 mark, McCray buried a triple from the corner to push himself over 1,000 points.
The Bears closed things down the stretch and went into halftime down just 32-27. At the break, McCray led all scorers with 11. The second half was much of the same as JU flirted with double-digit leads as much as 20 points in the final frame of play.
Jackson scored eight of his points in the final 20 minutes which would have set a career-high on its own had he not had his explosive first half.
By game's end, four Dolphins hit double-digit scoring marks.
Outside of McCray and Jackson, Kendall Munson and Chris Arias each added 10. Arias, a fellow Jacksonville freshman, connected on two deep balls and went 4-8 total from the floor. Munson scored all his buckets around the rim while also snagging five boards.
Zimi Nwokeji scored six points behind two deep balls. Jakari Spence added six of his own as well. Zach Bell scored seven to go along with two steals and two rebounds.
In the rebounding category, Jacksonville was edged narrowly 31-29. The win was Jacksonville's first when being outrebounded. The Dolphins were 0-3 in non-conference and 0-2 in ASUN play when not winning the rebounding battle.
COACH'S COMMENTS
Game Notes
- The Dolphins shot well from three point range, knocking down 12 of 26 long range attempts. The team's 12 makes was its best mark in conference play.
- The Jacksonville bench came alive by scoring 34 points to its scoring output.
- The Jacksonville defense forced 17 turnovers.
- Jackson tied his career-high in assists with two.
- Jackson set career highs in field goals made (five) and field goals made (4).
NEXT UP
Jacksonville is now 1-0 on its four-game road trip with less than 48 hours between its win and its next game. The Dolphins travel to Florence, Alabama next for a rematch with North Alabama at 2 p.m. EST.
JU previously defeated North Alabama 64-60 this season.
