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MOBILE, Ala. – The University of South Alabama men’s basketball team ended the contest on an 18-5 run and freshman Mychal Ammons (Vicksburg, Miss.) scored 15 points after halftime to give the Jaguars a 66-61 win over Western Kentucky Saturday night at the Mitchell Center.

The Jags win for the third straight game and for the fifth time in the last six outings to even their Sun Belt Conference record at 7-7 and 15-10 overall. The Hilltoppers fall to 9-18 and 5-9.

USA, who fell behind by 10 points early in the second half, rallied from a 10-point deficit for the sixth time this season, thanks to Ammons’ game-high 17 markers.

“I thought that our guys endured,” said Jaguar head coach Ronnie Arrow. “We kept telling them it was a 40-minute ballgame at halftime. When you have 10 turnovers at halftime it’s hard to get an offense going. We weren’t scoring in transition and we weren’t scoring period. I thought we did a good job stopping them, but we weren’t scoring. I thought the energy level the first half, and partly through the second half wasn't good. Then Mychal Ammons got energized and his energy just caught on with the team.”

Junior Javier Carter (Dallas, Texas) and sophomore Augustine Rubit (Houston, Texas) had a double-double each and Carter also rejected eight shots, which is a new career high and tied for second-most in school history, one from the record last set in 1994.

“We needed every blocked shot he got,” said Arrow. “That’s a man-sized effort right there. Eight blocked shots and that’s not counting how many other shots he probably altered.”

A three-point play from WKU’s Derrick Gordon with 5:59 left gave the ‘Toppers a 56-48 lead. The Jags took over from there, scoring 14 of the next 16 points for a 62-58 advantage with 2:20 left.

Ammons started the run with four straight points at the free throw line and then answered a George Fant layup with a jumper of his own. Less than two minutes later, after a layup by Rubit and a free throw from junior Trey Anderson (Carrollton, Texas), Ammons gave South Alabama the lead with 2:56 remaining for the first time since the 11:08 mark of the first half.

On USA’s next possession, junior Freddie Goldstein (Milwaukee, Wis.) hit his only 3-pointer of the night for a four-point bulge.

The Hilltoppers’ Jamal Crook answered with a triple just 10 seconds later, but it would be their final points of the night. South Alabama got three offensive rebounds on its next possession to take 1:36 off the clock and Teeng Akol missed the front end of a 1-and-1 after he was fouled with 33.3 seconds remaining.

Anderson hit two free throws with 29.1 seconds left and T.J. Price missed a 3-point attempt with eight seconds on the clock. Carter went to the line and converted twice to put the game out of reach. He finished the contest by blocking a 3-pointer from Crook.

“I thought we fought them tooth-and-nail,” WKU interim head coach Ray Harper said. “We had our chances to win the basketball game. There are some areas we need to improve on. This is a tough place to play against a good basketball team.”

Ammons scored eight of his 17 points in the final 5:41 of the contest and made nine of his 10 attempts from the free throw line. He also added eight rebounds.

“On the rebounding and effort, he made up his mind he was taking it to the hole and he finished,” Arrow noted. “There was some that he didn’t, but the majority of them, he was aggressive. You know you can tell how aggressive a player is in a game by how many times you go to the free throw line. He shot ten free throws. When you have an active person they are going to shoot free throws.”

Carter finished with 10 points and 10 rebounds for his second career double-double. Rubit tallied 10 points and a game-high 13 rebounds for his ninth double-double of the season, tying him for the conference lead.

Gordon paced the Hilltoppers with 16 points and nine rebounds. Crook added 14 points and Akol totaled 11.

South Alabama travels to South Florida next week to end the regular season, starting Thursday with a 7 p.m. EST tilt at Florida Atlantic.

NOTES: Rubit snapped a career-long four-game drought without a double-double… The Jags also had two players record a double-double in the same game Dec. 19 against Georgia Southern… His 10 boards place him in ninth place on USA’s career rebounding list (534)… Carter moved from sixth to third on USA’s single-season blocks chart and currently has 68 on the year… He also tied his career high with 10 rebounds… A season-best 4,126 fans came to the Mitchell Center for the game… USA won the rebounding battle 48-35… The Jaguars’ 37.1 shooting percentage is the team’s lowest in a win this season… Both teams had 11 assists and 16 turnovers… South Alabama leads the all-time series 32-29 and WKU is the program’s most frequently-played opponent.

For more information about South Alabama athletics, check back with www.usajaguars.com, and follow the Jaguars at www.twitter.com/USAJaguarSports. Season tickets for all Jaguar athletic events can be purchased by calling (251) 461-1USA (1872).

—USA—