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MURFREESBORO, Tenn.—Bulldozers lined the parking lot of the Murphy Center. Following a day of hard work, they cleared the way for fans to file into the arena for Middle Tennessee’s (12-5, 3-1 CUSA) contest against the Jacksonville State Gamecocks (9-7, 1-2). Just like those machines did outside prior to the game, it took good, old-fashioned hard work from its two best scoring machines, Essam Mostafa and Jestin Porter, to help the Blue Raiders to an 81-64 win to continue the best start they’ve seen under Head Coach Nick McDevitt’s tutelage.
Middle Tennessee stormed out of the gate on the offensive end, starting the game 6-for-8 from the field through the first four-plus minutes of play to jump out to a 15-4 lead. Mostafa had a pair of baskets to go with three-pointers from Justin Bufford, Porter and Jlynn Counter to cap off the game-opening run.
Middle Tennessee did end up coming back down to Earth, offensively, to finish the first half, but played great defense, holding Jacksonville State to just 35 percent shooting. The nation’s fourth leading scorer, Jaron Pierre Jr, had just three points on 1-of-8 shooting heading into the locker room…