Official Game Statistics
NEW ORLEANS, La. ? Brandon Davis scored 17 of his career-high 26 points in the first half, including 10 straight during a decisive run, to lead South Alabama to a 97-88 victory over New Orleans Saturday night at the Human Performance Center. The win was the ninth straight for the Jaguars, equaling the eighth-longest streak in school history.
Demetric Bennett added 25 points, while Domonic Tilford and Daon Merritt also reached double figures with 17 and 14 points, respectively. Merritt finished with nine assists, while DeAndre Coleman reached double-digits in rebounds for the sixth time this season with 10 boards.
T.J. Worley led four Privateers (12-5, 2-3) in double figures with 24 points. Bo McCalebb, the Sun Belt Conference’s leading scorer finished with 19 points, but had just six in the opening period.
South Alabama (13-3, 5-0) posted its best shooting night of the season at 55.2 percent and seemed poised to blow the game wide open in the second half. The Jaguars led by 18 twice, the last at 64-46 with 10:51 remaining. But the Privateers answered with 10 straight points to close back to within eight with 8:35 to play.
South pushed the lead back to 14 twice, but had to fight off a final UNO run before claiming victory. The Privateers closed to within seven on a T.J. Dykes’ three-pointer with 1:34 left, aided primarily by 11-of-16 free-throw shooting run by the Jaguars, and were down just six 91-85 with 24 seconds left. But Bennett, Merritt and Tilford each knocked down a pair of free throws after that to preserve the victory.
"We shot the ball really good and we won the game," Head Coach Ronnie Arrow. "I was glad to see we had 20 assists and took care of the ball. I was disappointed that when we got them down, we didnt put the away. But they had a lot to do with that. I thought Brandon played well, giving us an early lead. Domonic, Philip and Daniel gave us quality minutes. This was a maturity check tonight and we passed it."
South Alabama scored the first two points of the game, then answered a Ben Elias layup with a back-to-back baskets by Davis for a 7-2 lead. UNO took its only lead, 18-17, on a T.J. Worley three with 11:29 to play, but Daniel Hayles’ first three-pointer of the season put the Jaguars back ahead, 20-18. Davis took control at that point, scoring 10 straight USA points to make the score 30-22. The lead reached double figures for the first time a short time later, 32-22 when DeAndre Coleman got an underneath bucket with 5:25 remaining.
The Jaguars shot 55.2 percent (16 of 29) in the period, its fourth-best shooting half of the season, while limiting UNO to 46.4 percent and forcing nine turnovers. South Alabama finished with just nine turnovers after seven in the opening period.
The Jaguars return home Wednesday night in search of their 10th straight win when they welcome Florida International to the Mitchell Center. Tipoff is set for 7:05 p.m.
