TROY, Ala. ? Overcoming a 14-point deficit, two double-doubles and four players in double figures propelled the Jaguars to a 75-64 victory at Troy on Thursday night in a key Sun Belt Conference game. With the win, USA improves to 10-7 overall and moved into a tie for first place in the East division with a 4-2 record. Troy falls to 7-10 and 2-4 in conference play.
“We feel very fortunate to win the game as we have a tremendous amount of respect for Troy and coach Maestri,” Jaguar head coach John Pelphrey said. “I thought our defense really played well tonight even though Troy started with a big lead. We settled down and begin to play our game and we started to chip away.”
Troy opened the game with a 10-2 start as Richard Cheney hit a three and a jumper during the run to lead the Trojan attack. A put back off an offensive rebound by sophomore Trajinski Grigsby cut the deficit to 10-4, making his second start of the season. Another 3-pointer by Jerome Odem gave Troy a 17-6 lead through the first six minutes of the game.
A 3-pointer by Justin Jonus gave Troy a 20-6 lead with 12:52 to play in the half. USA really struggled through the first eight minutes, making just 3 of 13 shots and were 0 of 6 from beyond the arc. Troy, on the other hand, was 7 of 16 from the field and were 4 of 11 from beyond the arc.
“I was anxious to see how we would handle adversity and we hung in there and got the ball inside to our ?bigs’ and got back in the game. Troy had the first big run and I was very proud of how we responded and didn’t panic.”
Junior Demetric Bennett scored his first field goal with a 3-pointer cutting the deficit to 20-9. Another 3-pointer by Bennett cut the deficit to 20-13 with over eight minutes left in the half. A nice towering pass from junior Daon Merritt to an open sophomore Brandon Davis cut the deficit to five with 7:45 left at 20-15.
Troy really cooled off making just 1 of 8 shots since the 11:48 mark and scored just two points during the Jags’ 9-2 run.
Two more buckets and an old fashion 3-point play by the Jags cut the deficit to 22-20 building the run to a 14-2 margin.
Sammy Sharp ended the run with a turnaround jumper in the lane and followed with another jumper to build the lead back to 26-23.
Troy held for the last shot with 31 seconds left in the half and came up empty handed and went into the half with a 33-29 lead. The Jags closed the half with a 23-13 run over the last 11:48 of the half to pull within four. Troy’s biggest lead of the half was 20-6 at the 12:52 mark.
For the half USA had eight points from Bennett on 3 of 4 from the field and 2 of 3 from beyond the arc and seven points from junior Ernest Little. The Jags shot 35.5 percent from the field on 11 of 31 and were 3 of 14 from beyond the arc.
Troy countered with six points from Sharp, Cedric Jackson and Jonus to lead the team. Sharp had eight rebounds in the half but the Trojans were outrebounded 23-21. Troy was 11 of 35 from the field and 5 of 20 from beyond the arc and made all six free throw attempts.
A tip-in by Davis at the 14:25 mark tied the game at 37 and a steal and layup by Bennett gave the Jags their first lead of the game just under 13 minutes left at 39-37. Another layup by Davis gave USA its largest lead to that point at 41-37 with 13:30 to play.
A 6-0 run by the Trojans tied the game at 46 with 10:11 left capped with a four-point play by Jonus and a basket by O’Darien Bassett.
USA responded and built a five point cushion on a bang-bang old-fashion 3-point play by Merritt with just under eight minutes to play at 54-49. The Jags built their biggest lead to that point with a trey by Merritt and one by senior Carlos Smith to build a 60-49 advantage with 5:45 left.
An alley-oop dunk by Sharp cut the deficit to 60-51 with under five to play, followed two jumpers from Bassett to make the score 62-55 with 3:53 left.
The Jags used solid free throw shooting down the stretch to hold a 71-64 lead with 40 second left. Merritt made both and was a perfect 7 of 7 from the line in the second half as the Jags held on for a 75-64 win.
For the game Merritt had a game-high 18 points all coming in the second half and was 7 of 7 from the charity stripe. Bennett had 15 points and a career-high 10 rebounds for his second double-double of the season. Little had 14 points and also had a career-high 11 rebounds for his first double-double at South Alabama. Smith chipped in 15 points and had two key second half 3-pointers.
As a team, USA shot 41.5 percent for the game on 27 of 65 from the field. Despite being just 6 of 24 from downtown, the Jags made up for it from the charity stripe as they were 15 of 17 for a season-best 88.2 percent.
Troy had three players in double figures with Cedric Jackson and Bassett each having 15 and Jonus had 14 off the bench. Troy was 23 of 66 from the field and were 8 of 38 from beyond the arc. The Trojans were 10 of 12 from the charity stripe.
USA won the battle of the boards with a 48-35 advantage, including 16-12 on the offensive end.
The Jaguars return home to host Arkansas-Little Rock on Saturday at approximately 7:05 p.m.
