Brandon Davis scored 17 points and grabbed 10 rebounds for his first double-double of the season, while Daon Merritt scored all 13 of his points before halftime. Leading scorer Demetric Bennett was held to just 12 points as South Alabama won for the sixth straight time. Evan Jefferson’s 12 points led Jacksonville, which suffered its eighth straight loss after a 3-0 start.

Jacksonville hit three of its first four shots in building the early lead, but made just six of 29 over the remaining time to finish the stanza at 27.3 percent. Meanwhile, the Jags hit 48.4 percent (15 of 31) and converted 10 of 12 free throws. South Alabama led 22-20 when it went on an 11-1 run that pushed the lead to double-digits, 33-21 with 3:50 remaining in the period. The Jags closed on an 8-4 spurt to lead by 17, 41-24, at the break.

USA pushed the lead to 23 early in the second half and was up by as many as 24, 55-31 with 11:45 remaining after two Domonic Tilford free throws. But the Jaguars played sloppy over the rest of the game, although the lead was never lower than a dozen.

“I thought Jacksonville came out and played hard tonight,” Head Coach Ronnie Arrow said. “Our defense gave us one big run that, in essence, led to the win. But we had one steal, which shows we weren’t working hard enough, and only 12 assists, which shows we weren’t sharing the ball. On the positive side Brandon Davis played hard and nearly got a triple-double and we won the game. I am proud of where we are because we have come a long way, but we still have room for improvement.”

South Alabama’s 18 turnovers equaled the season high, while the Jaguars’ one steal was a season-low. Outside of Davis’ perfect six-of-six effort from the floor, the remaining percentage for his 11 teammates was just .375.

After sweeping the six-game homestand, South Alabama now hits the road for the first time since Nov. 29 ? and first time in Sun Belt Conference play ? on Wednesday at Florida Atlantic.