MOBILE, Ala. --- University of South Alabama freshman Martino Brock (Memphis, Tenn.) recorded team-high totals of 18 points and 12 rebounds to guide the men’s basketball team to a 69-65 overtime victory over Florida International Thursday night at the Mitchell Center.

South Alabama improves to 14-12 overall and 6-8 in the Sun Belt Conference while FIU drops to 7-20 and 4-10.

“At the end of this game, we got some stops that we haven’t been getting in other games,” said USA head coach Ronnie Arrow. “We made our free throws, for the most part, and didn’t turn the ball over. That’s entirely different than what we’ve been doing in these other games where we’ve gone down to the wire. It was completely reversed tonight. We got some big buckets by different players and won the game.”

The Jags won without senior Bryan Sherrer (Monticello, Ark.) who left the game early with a knee injury and did not return. He will undergo tests and be evaluated further later this week.

Brock tied his career high in rebounds, steals (4) and blocks (2), and shot 7-for-17 from the floor and 4-for-5 from the free throw line. It was also his team-leading fourth double-double of the season.

It was Brock who tied the game to go into the extra period. Down two after two FIU free throws, Brock drove the baseline for a lay-up with 22 seconds remaining.

The Jags led by as many as 10 early in the second half and held the lead for almost 17 minutes until the Golden Panthers went on a 9-3 run to go ahead for the first time all night.

The teams traded a pair of free throws before Brock tied it at 60-60 with his lay-up. FIU’s final attempt to win in regulation was blocked by junior Gary Redus II (Decatur, Ala.).

The Golden Panthers struck first in the extra period with two more free throws but Redus tied it for the final time with a lay-up. Brock put the Jaguars up for good with two at the charity stripe and freshman DeAndré Hersey (Carrollton, Ala.) picked a Brock miss out of the air and finished with a thunderous dunk for a four-point advantage with 40 seconds left.

“We tried to spread it and get it to the hole,” said Arrow. “When Bryan went out, we had people playing in positions they haven’t played before. We had to go to our spread offense and try to get to the hole and pitch to the open man. We’re probably going to have to do more of that now with Bryan being out. We have some key guys who are out, and it’s given other guys opportunities that they need to take advantage of.”

The Golden Panthers went 0-for-8 from the floor in overtime, part of a 33.3% shooting night for the game. USA fared only slightly better, converting 33.8% of its field goals.

FIU’s Tremayne Russell led all players with 20 points. Marvin Roberts added 17 and Marlon Bright had 12 and nine rebounds.

Redus reached double-digit scoring with 14 and added three blocks. Hersey hit new personal bests with 12 points and nine rebounds.

South Alabama dominated the boards, outrebounding Florida International 61-38. Both the total rebounds and margin were a season high and three different USA players set career bests in rebounds. The Jags grabbed 27 offensive rebounds to the Panthers’ 25 defensive rebounds.

The team’s efforts led to 22 second-chance points to just eight for FIU.

“We weren’t rebounding for four games, but this is like the fourth or fifth game in a row we’ve outrebounded who we’ve played,” said Arrow. “That has been the constant for us the past few games, and we’ve been doing it without really working on it. I’ve said all along we should be a good rebounding team, and they’ve learned to do that. If we could learn to continually do some of these other things, it would be really good.”

For the second straight game South Alabama came out firing, jumping out to an 11-2 lead and was up 20-6 with 8:39 left before halftime. But runs of 6-0 and 7-0 got the Golden Panthers to within three with two minutes to go before intermission. FIU trailed 28-23 at the half.

USA concludes its homestand Saturday against Louisiana at Lafayette. Tip-off is scheduled for 7:05 p.m.

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 Charles Tabet (10), sophomore Allyn Cooks (8) and Hersey (9) all set new career highs in rebounds… Junior Tim Williams (Pontiac, Mich.) barely kept his double-digit scoring streak alive with 10 points – it is his lowest total since being held to seven Dec. 19 vs. UAB… Thursday was South Alabama’s fourth overtime game of the season, with all coming against league opponents – USA is 2-2 in OT games this year.

—USA—