LAFAYETTE, La. ? In a tight game that saw a season-high 28 lead changes, the South Alabama Jaguars won a 73-69 decision at Louisiana-Lafayette Tuesday night. With the win, USA improves to 12-7 overall and 6-2 in conference play. Junior Ernest Little led the Jags with his second double-double of the season with 20 points and 10 rebounds.
The game opened with both teams exchanging buckets through the first four minutes, but a 9-2 run by the Jags capped with a 3-pointer by senior Stephen Cowherd gave the Jags a 15-9 lead with 14:14 to play. It was Cowherd’s first start of the season. Ross Mouton hit a 3-pointer for the Ragin’ Cajuns (4-15, 2-7) to end the run and cut the Jag lead to 15-12 with just over 14 minutes left in the half.
Mouton hit a bucket and two free throws to cut the USA lead to 20-16 with just over eight minutes to play in the half. Junior Ernest Little came right back with a tough look off the glass to put the Jags back up 22-18 with 7:46 left in the half.
Mouton put the Cajuns back on top with a pair of free throws at 23-22 with 6:25 left in the half. Junior Daon Merritt came right back for the Jaguars and put USA back in front. From that moment on, the teams exchanged buckets and the lead for the next three minutes. USA held a 29-28 lead heading into the final media timeout of the half.
Rhett Hebert hit a fade away jumper as the shot clock was winding down to put the Cajuns back ahead 34-32 at halftime.
For the half, the Jags shot 37.9 percent from the field on 11 of 29. Despite not shooting well from beyond the arc at 2 of 9 for the opening half, USA made up for it shooting 8 of 11 from the charity stripe for 72.7 percent. Senior Carlos Smith led the team with nine points and five rebounds at intermission.
Louisiana-Lafayette had 11 points from Mouton as he was a perfect 4 of 4 from the line and had a 3-pointer. The Ragin Cajuns’ leading scorer, David Dees, had just two points at halftime. As a team, the Cajuns shot 42 percent from the field on 12 of 28. They were 3 of 10 from beyond the arc and 7 of 12 from the line. USA held a 22-15 lead on the boards.
The Jags opened the second half with a thundering dunk by Little to tie the game at 34 just one minute in. Little followed on the ensuing possession with a layup to give USA a 36-34 lead with 18:22 left as Ragin’ Cajun head coach Robert Lee had to call a timeout.
From that moment on, the game became a back-and-forth affair as the teams exchanged leads for the next 10 minutes. Louisiana-Lafayette’s Derek Gray hit his first 3-pointer to give the Cajuns a 57-55 lead with just over eight minutes left.
A breakaway layup by Merritt cut the deficit to one point at 58-57 with seven minutes left. Merritt was then fouled on the ensuing USA possession and made two free throws to put the Jags back up 59-58.
Cowherd hit a 3-pointer, his first of the game, to give USA a 64-61 lead with 3:44 left. Little, who had scored 14 points in the second half alone to that point, hit a key bucket to give USA a 66-63 lead with 2:35 left and Merritt followed with another basket to put USA up 68-63 with under two minutes to play.
Dees hit two free throws with 1:07 left to cut the Jaguar lead to 68-65. Smith hit two free throws with 43.1 seconds left to put the Jags ups 70-65. After a timeout by the Jags, Mouton hit a jumper in the lane to cut the deficit to 70-67 with 36.9 seconds left. Bennett hit two free throws after a timeout by Louisiana-Lafayette to make the score 72-67. Mouton hit a quick jumper to cut it back to three.
On the ensuing possession, Smith hit one of two free throws and then Little pulled down his 10th rebound of the game with 9.0 seconds left and the Jags held on for a 73-69 victory.
For the third consecutive game, the Jags shot a whole lot better in the second half than the first. USA was 14 of 23 from the field in the second half and was 25 of 52 for the game for 48 percent USA made only three 3-pointers on the night but went 20 of 30 from the free throw line. Merritt had 16 points and 14 were in the second half and Smith had 12 points to lead the Jags in double figures.
Louisiana-Lafayette had a game-high 23 points from Mouton. The Cajuns shot 43 percent on 23 of 53 and were 7 of 21 from beyond the arc. Louisiana was 16 of 24 from the free throw line. USA won the battle of the board, 37-25.
The Jags continue on the road on Saturday at Denver, before returning home for an ESPN Plus game against conference newcomer Louisiana-Monroe, Thurs., Jan. 25.
