MOBILE, Ala. ? University of South Alabama men’s basketball guard Domonic Tilford had one of the best nights of his career Thursday, but it wasn’t enough to lift the Jags to victory.
A.J. Slaughter scored 21 points and Orlando Mendez-Valdez chipped in with 20 to help Western Kentucky earn a 69-66 victory over the Jaguars in the Sun Belt Conference opener for both teams at the Mitchell Center.
Jeremy Evans added 12 points, and Sergio Kerusch collected 10 to go along with 16 rebounds for the Hilltoppers (6-3), who received all but four points from their starting five.
Tilford’s career-high 30 points ? which came on 7-of-11 shooting from three-point range ? were the most scored by a USA (6-5) player this season. He was 9-of-16 overall, hit all five attempts at the free-throw line and had four assists.
DeAndré Coleman and LaShun Watson collected 10 points apiece, and Brandon Davis supplied seven points and 13 rebounds for the Jaguars, who will travel to Miami to face Florida International in another league contest Saturday at 6:30 p.m. in their final game prior to Christmas.
“Western has a good team. They have some really good guards, and they’ve beaten some really good people,” stated Jaguar head coach Ronnie Arrow. “Our assists and rebounding were the most positive things for us tonight, but we were too lackadaisical in the first half. We didn’t execute very well against their zone, we didn’t move the zone from one side to the other.”
The lead changed hands 12 times overall in the contest, the last time when Evans tipped in a missed shot with just over seven minutes to go to put the Toppers up 60-58. Neither team scored over the next two-plus minutes until Slaughter completed a three-point play to push the edge to five, while his putback of his own miss with two minutes remaining gave WKU its largest advantage, 67-61.
Watson drove for jumper in the lane, and after the Hilltoppers missed the front end of a one-and-one Tilford connected on his final three from the top of the key with 19 seconds to go to draw the Jags to within one point. Slaughter closed out the scoring with two free throws with two seconds later.
Kerusch’s trey in the opening half-minute after the intermission extended WKU’s lead to 38-34, but Tilford answered with a three-pointer and Davis added a basket to put USA back in front with just over 17 minutes remaining. Tilford was fouled, making all three free throws, and when Daniel Hayles scored on a reverse layup at 14:50 the Jaguars were up 46-40.
A Tilford three with 13:44 to go kept the Jags in the lead, 49-44, and it was a four-point advantage at the midway point of the period after Coleman converted a layup.
The Jaguars hit six of their first eight shots from the field, with Tilford sinking three three-pointers. He hit back-to-back shots from beyond the arc to help USA turn a 4-2 deficit to an 8-4 advantage with 16:42 to go, and after Mendez-Valdez and Watson exchanged treys Tilford made another attempt from long distance to put the Jags up 16-9. That forced a WKU time-out with just under 15 minutes left.
USA would finish the half making 5-of-8 three-point attempts.
When Tilford made a layup with 12:17 remaining the Jags were still up 20-14, and the lead was still five with less than nine minutes left after a Coleman jump shot before the Toppers would mount a rally.
WKU recovered, using a 9-0 run midway through the period to take a 29-25 advantage with 7:18 remaining. Mendez-Valdez closed out the spurt with a pair of treys from the top of the key in a 23-second span.
It would be a one-point game at the half in the Hilltoppers’ favor, 35-34, as both teams recorded the same rebounding (16) and turnover totals (eight) over the first 20 minutes. USA would shoot 46.4 percent from the floor before the break, WKU 45.2 percent.
The Toppers outshot the Jags 52-41.4 percent in the second half, though, finishing the game connecting at a 48.2-percent rate. That included making 7-of-16 (43.8%) from beyond the arc.
USA, which shot 8-of-20 (40%) from long range, posted a 35-31 rebounding advantage.
For more information about South Alabama athletics, check back with www.usajaguars.com. Season tickets for all Jaguar athletic events can be purchased by calling (251) 461-1USA (1872).
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