MOBILE, Ala. ? The University of South Alabama men’s basketball team saw a 16-point lead evaporate down to one with a minute left in the game, but the Jaguars held on to defeat New Orleans 62-60 in the first round of the Sun Belt Conference Tournament Wednesday night at the Mitchell Center.

The No. 6 seed Jaguars (18-12) move on to the quarterfinals in Hot Springs, Ark. where they will face No. 3 Troy Sunday night at 9 p.m. It is the fourth straight year USA has reached the quarterfinal round. The 11th-seeded Privateers end their season at 11-19.

The win is the Jags’ sixth straight at home this season and ninth consecutive victory over the Privateers, a streak that dates back to 2005.

“We’ve been in games before where we’ve had leads, and we just go through a pause where we just don’t execute and defend,” said USA head coach Ronnie Arrow. “During that time, they [New Orleans] shot six layups. In defense, we didn’t back-rotate, but the bottom line is we won. We held them to 37 percent shooting. Our goal was to hold them to 58 points. We’re winning these games on our defense.”

South Alabama led 55-39 with 8:29 to play in the contest after a lay-up by junior LaShun Watson (Greenville, Ga.). A 12-0 run knocked it down to four at the four-minute mark and two free throws from UNO’s Justin Archie cut the margin to one, 58-57 with 1:01 left in the game.

On the Jaguars’ next possession, senior Brandon Davis (Birmingham, Ala.) hit a lay-up in the lane ? his only points of the night ? to make it a three-point game. The Privateers’ T.J. Worley went to the line with 12 seconds left and made the first of two free throws, but a tip-in attempt went begging and USA senior Domonic Tilford (Louisville, Ky.) iced the contest by hitting two foul shots with seven ticks left.

New Orleans’ Kyndall Dykes led all scorers with 17 points and added 10 rebounds and three assists. Worley had 15 points.

Tilford paced the Jags with 13 points. Watson and senior Ronald Douglas (Baton Rouge, La.) had 11 points each. Senior DeAndré Coleman (Stone Mountain, Ga.) grabbed 10 rebounds.

South Alabama jumped out to an early 16-7 lead thanks to seven points from junior Bryan Sherrer (Monticello, Ark.), but New Orleans answered with a 6-0 run to cut the margin to 20-18 at the midway point of the first half.

Up 24-21 at the 7:47 mark, the Jags scored nine straight points on a three-point play by junior Philip Tabet (Bloomfield Hill, Mich.) and 3-pointers by Watson and Tilford.

Archie responded with a trey of his own, but six consecutive points, capped off by a dunk from Douglas extended the advantage to 15.

South Alabama shot 53.6% in the first half and took a 39-26 lead into the break.

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: Coleman has recorded 10 rebounds in each of the last four games and tallied his 500th career carom tonight... He leads the conference in rebounding at 8.3 per game... The Jaguars are 15-1 when leading at halftime and 9-0 against SBC teams... Worley averaged 20 points in two games against South Alabama this season... After shooting 4-for-8 from 3-point land in the first half, USA missed its only two attempts in the second half... Twelve of South Alabama’s last 13 games have been decided by eight points or less.

?USA?