Jaron Pierre Jr. led the way with 30 points as Jacksonville State went into Atlanta and dominated No. 4 seed Georgia Tech 81-64 on Tuesday in the opening round of the NIT.

Marcellus Brigham Jr. chipped in 16 points and Jao Ituka had 14 for Jacksonville State (23-12), which will face either No. 1 seed UC Irvine or Northern Colorado in this weekend’s second round.

Pierre shot 11 of 18 from the field – 5 of 10 from 3-point range — and also contributed seven assists and three steals. As a team, the Gamecocks knocked down half of their 30 3-point attempts and shot nearly 52 percent from the floor overall.

Georgia Tech (17-17) shot just 35.5 percent from the floor as its season came to a disappointing end. Duncan Powell and Lance Terry led the Yellow Jackets with 15 points apiece, while Naithan George pitched in with 14 points and three steals.

Jacksonville State began to create some separation about seven minutes into the game. The visitors were leading by a point when Pierre made back-to-back buckets, followed by a 3-pointer from Ituka that opened up a 22-14 cushion with 10:33 left in the first half.

Georgia Tech got its deficit down to 25-23, but Jacksonville State responded with 13 of the next 15 points to take control. That burst began and ended with 3-pointers by Brigham as the Gamecocks went on to lead 45-33 at the break.

Things didn’t get much better for the Yellow Jackets in the second half, as they allowed 10 of the first 12 points to create a 55-35 margin. Koree Cotton scored the first five points of the session for Jacksonville State, which led by double figures the entire second half and cruised to the finish line.

Pierre’s 3-pointer with 7 1/2 minutes left sent the lead north of 20 points for the first time a 67-46. He drained two more 3-pointers in the next 2 1/2 minutes as the lead ballooned to 73-49.

–Field Level Media