MOBILE, Ala. ? The University of South Alabama men’s basketball team fought off a furious second half rally by West Alabama to win a 79-65 exhibition game on Sunday at the Mitchell Center. The Jags had five players in double figures led by junior Daon Merritt with 19 points.
“We are a collection of players right now and we are not quite a team yet,” Jaguar head coach John Pelphrey said. “We can do some things well, but we are not there yet. This exhibition game is very good for us and we have to get better before we go to California next week and face some very good teams there.”
The first half opened with a bang as junior Merritt threw an alley-oop dunk to junior Kenny Hooks right after the tip. USA opened a 13-5 lead through the first five minutes of the game as the Jags were 3-of-3 from beyond the arc and 4-of-5 from the field.
West Alabama cut it to 13-10, but the Jags responded with an 8-0 run over the next thee minutes making the advantage 21-10. The teams then traded buckets as USA kept its lead at 32-21 with 6:41 to play in the half.
A 6-0 run capped with a driving layup by junior Demetric Bennett as the shot clock was winding down gave the Jags a 38-21 lead with 3:44 to play in the half. The Jags kept the run going as Bennett added five more points on a long trey and a jumper increasing the lead to 45-21 with 2:14 to play. A trey by UWA’s Michael Billings ended the 13-0 run by the Jags with 1:58 left. The Jags took a 49-29 lead into halftime.
USA shot the ball well in the first half as it connected on 17-of-26 shots from the field for 65.4 percent. The Tigers, who started off slow connecting on only six of their first 19 shots, ended the half five of its last seven for 42.3 percent The Jags were deadly in the first half from beyond the arc, going 8-of-13 for 61.5 percent.
Bennett was the only player in double figures with 12 points of 5-of-7 from the floor and 2-of-4 from beyond the arc. 10 of the 12 players who played in the first half for the Jaguars scored. UWA countered with seven points from Stan Gill and had three players with five points each. USA led the battle on the boards, 14-11.
The second half began slow as both teams struggled to make shots through the first four minutes of the half. USA made two of its first nine shots, while UWA was two of its first five. USA finally got going as it increased the lead to 67-42 with 10:45 to play on a 3-pointer by senior Carlos Smith.
UWA would not go quietly as it cut the deficit to 18 points with a trey by Jared Hembree with 8:13 to play, followed by a breakaway layup by Billings to cut it to 67-51 with 7:53 left.
A trey by Merritt ended a five minute scoreless drought and a 12-0 run by the Tigers, giving USA a 70-54 lead with 5:18 to play.
Merritt hit another key trey to put USA back up double digits with 2:21 to play, 73-61. Another Merritt bucket increased the lead to 76-63 with 1:16 to play. A trey by freshman Darren Cloud with under a minute to play gave USA a final 79-65 lead.
For the game, USA was 27-of-56 from the field for 48.2 percent, while UWA was 23-of-53 for 43.4 percent. USA was 15-of-31 from beyond the arc for 48.4 percent and were 10-of-14 from the free throw line. Along with Merritt’s 19 points, Bennett added 14 points followed by 13 from Smith, 11 from senior Leandro Buboltz and 10 from Cloud off the bench.
UWA had two players in double figures led by 18 from Billings off the bench and 10 from Hembree. USA slowed Preseason All-Gulf South selection Stan Gill to nine points.
USA now will begin the regular season at the Basketball Travelers Classic at Fresno on Fri., Nov. 10 against UC-Irvine at 8 p.m. central time. USA opens the home schedule on Fri., Nov. 17 at 7:05 p.m. against Morehead State.
