MOBILE, Ala. ? The South Alabama Jaguars held off a furious second half rally by Western Kentucky on Thursday night and needed overtime for a 73-71 victory at the Mitchell Center. With the win, the Jags improved to 18-7 overall and 12-2 in conference play, while extending the nation’s fourth best winning streak to 11 games.
“This was an unbelievably exciting basketball game,” Jaguar head coach John Pelphrey said. “I thought we played well for much of the game and you have to give WKU a lot of credit coming back like they did in the late stages of the second half.”
“I am really proud of how our guys persevered tonight, we hung in there and got the job done.”
In the second overtime game of the season for the Jaguars, USA took the early one point lead on a free throw by junior Daon Merritt. WKU’s Courtey Lee put the Hilltoppers up one with a putback, but senior Leandro Buboltz hit a big time 3-pointer in the corner to put USA back up 67-65 with just over two minutes left. Junior Demetric Bennett drove to the hoop on the ensuing possession to put the Jags up four with 90 seconds left.
WKU’s Jeremy Evans cut the deficit in half with another putback and two free throws by Evans evened the game at 69 with 56 seconds left. Junior Daon Merritt drove to the hoop and was fouled putting him at the line where he made both free throws with 34.4 seconds left.
The Hilltoppers went for the quick score by A.J. Slaughter giving the Jags the final possession with 17.2 seconds on the clock. Merritt drove to the hoop for the go-ahead score with 2.2 seconds left.
WKU had one last chance as it put the ball in play and had to go the length of the court. Lee heaved a ball from just inside halfcourt to no avail.
The Jaguars built a 26-16 on a layup by Merritt with just over five minutes to play in the first half. A trey by Hilltopper Orlando Mendez-Valdez cut the deficit to 26-19 with four minutes to play and another trey by Tyrone Brazelton cut the deficit to five points at 27-22 with two minutes left in the half.
Bennett countered with two treys in the final minute of the half to put the Jags up 35-25 at halftime.
For the half USA shot 43.8 percent from the floor on 14 of 32. The Jags were 5 of 13 from beyond the arc and 2 of 4 from the line. Bennett had 10 points to lead the team, while Merritt and Davis each had eight.
WKU was led by eight points from Brazelton as the Hilltoppers shot 10 of 26 from the floor for 38.5 percent, after starting the half making just 2 of their first 12. WKU was 4 of 12 from beyond the arc and 1 of 2 from the line.
WKU held a 20-16 lead in rebounds. The Jaguars played much of the first half without junior Ernest Little who had two quick fouls early in the game.
Each time WKU cut the deficit under ten, the Jags responded and pushed the lead back to nine or ten. Little hit two free throws to put USA up 53-42 with 11 minutes to play in regulation.
WKU rallied from a 60-48 deficit to tie the game at 60 with two minutes and change left. Courtney Lee hit a key bucket as the shot clock was winding down to put the Hilltoppers up 62-60 with 33 seconds left. USA ended the 14-0 run by WKU with a 3-pointer by junior Daon Merritt to tie the game with 21.8 seconds left. It was in just about the exact spot where he hit the game-tying 3-pointer against North Texas to send that game to overtime.
For the game, USA was led by Merritt who tied his career-high with 24 points on 7 of 9 from the floor and 8 of 11 from the line. Also in double figures was Bennett with 14 and Davis had 10 points off the bench.
Western Kentucky had 21 points from Lee to lead the way and had 15 from Brazelton and 11 from Evans.
“I am very happy for our kids,” Pelphrey added. “It is not every day that your are fourth in the nation in something. I am very happy for our school and our fans were awesome tonight.”
