SC Upstate pulls away late to beat Jacksonville 73-66 (Jan 14, 2017)
SPARTANBURG, S.C. (AP) Philip Whittington scored 14 points and had 13 rebounds, and Michael Buchanan, Deion Holmes and Jure Span each scored 11 as South Carolina Upstate beat Jacksonville 73-66 Saturday.
Whittington made two free throws putting South Carolina Upstate (11-8, 1-1 Atlantic Sun) up 63-62 with 4:02 to go and the Spartans never trailed again.
Devin Harris' layup with 2:05 left brought Jacksonville (13-6, 1-1) to within 66-64, but Mike Cunningham sank three-straight free throws after getting fouled on a 3-pointer. Cunningham made all five of his free throws in the final 83 seconds.
The two teams were nearly identical shooting from the floor. Jacksonville was 24 for 55 (43.6 percent) and the Spartans were 24 for 54 (44.4). The difference was at the free throw line where SC Upstate was 15 for 21 to 8 for 11 for Jacksonville.
J.R. Holder led the Dolphins with 20 points, Tanner Rubio had 15, and Darien Fernandez had 14.
