MOBILE, Ala. ? Senior Brandon Davis (Birmingham, Ala.) tallied a double-double with 13 points and a career high 16 rebounds and South Alabama managed to hold on to a 56-53 victory over New Orleans Saturday afternoon at the Mitchell Center.

The win snaps a three-game losing streak and improves USA’s record to 12-10 overall and 5-6 in the Sun Belt Conference. UNO drops to 9-13, 4-7.

“It was a very physical game,” said USA head coach Ronnie Arrow. “It was a game that we played hard enough. Those are the type of games we’ve been in the past four or five games, and it was our turn. I think we kept our poise, but the difference in this one was we ran our plays better, we got a couple of easy buckets and when they fouled we made our free throws.”

Having lost three straight games on the last possession, the Jaguars finally found themselves on the positive side of the last-minute heroics. New Orleans trailed 54-53 and held the ball with 33 seconds left in the game but a 3-pointer by T.J. Worley was off the mark. Senior DeAndré Coleman (Stone Mountain, Ga.) grabbed the rebound and made two free throws to ice the win.

“We told our guys do not let them get to the hole,” said Arrow. “Coleman’s second free throw was supposed to be missed, but we were positioned in the right spots.”

The Jaguars won despite shooting just 30% (18-60) from the floor, but held a decided 42-32 advantage on the boards and collected 19 offensive rebounds to the Privateers’ six.

“I know whenever you have 19 offensive rebounds, it’s going to take an awful lot of bad categories for you not to win,” said Arrow. “It means something, because a couple of our guys didn’t have a very good game, and other guys stepped up. I told our guys, that’s the mark of a good team, that other people take up the slack in case somebody doesn’t.”

Davis’ rebounding total is the highest by a USA player this season and he recorded his fourth double-double of the season and ninth of his career. Davis also blocked five shots, one shy of his personal best and had two steals.

He was joined in double-figures by Coleman who posted a team-high 16 points with two assists, blocks and steals apiece.

“Brandon and the rest of seniors ? we go as they go,” said Arrow. “The bottom line is they have to step up. We’ve got to have one of our seniors, or anybody, step up like that ? but especially our seniors. Coleman stepped up the past couple of games, and we didn’t win, but he stepped up. I thought tonight he played good.”

After trailing the entire first half, New Orleans erased a nine-point halftime deficit in the first five minutes of the second half, thanks in part to Worley who scored eight straight points to open the second half. He eventually gave UNO its first lead of the afternoon with a 3-pointer with 11:38 on the clock.

South Alabama answered with jumpers by juniors LaShun Watson (Greenville, Ga.) and Philip Tabet (Bloomfield Hill, Mich.) and never trailed again.

Worley led all scorers with 25 points on 10-of-19 shooting, including 4-for-8 from 3-point land. Jaroslav Tyrna had 12 rebounds and two blocks.

The Jaguars look to defend their home court Thursday night at 7:05 p.m. against North Texas.

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).

NOTES: Senior Ronald Douglas (Baton Rouge, La.) returned to the starting lineup and made his first appearance since the Arkansas State game Jan. 17. He did not score but had four rebounds... USA tied its season high with 10 blocks... The Jaguars led at halftime by nine after trailing by nine in each of their last three games... South Alabama’s 30% shooting night was a season low.

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