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BOCA RATON, Fla. – University of South Alabama freshman Mychal Ammons (Vicksburg, Miss.) scored nine of his career-high 26 points in overtime and added nine rebounds to give the Jaguars men’s basketball team a 79-76 win over Florida Atlantic Thursday night at FAU Arena.

The Jaguars win their fourth in a row—tying the team’s longest winning streak of the season—to improve to 16-10 and 8-7 in the Sun Belt Conference. The Owls fall to 11-17, 7-8.

“The way we started out the game, it was a testament to our guys the way they came back,” said USA head coach Ronnie Arrow. “Mychal started out slowly and got back to his regular form. When he does what he can do, he’s really good. We needed every bit of it.

“We got some key rebounds when we needed them and some key stops on their big guys late.”

Ammons had nine of the team’s 12 points and four of USA’s five rebounds in the extra period. He made all three of his shots in OT, including a 3-pointer that gave the Jags a six-point lead two minutes in.

“He’s such a phenomenal athlete, sometimes he tries to do too much and he gets caught up in it,” Arrow said. “When he slows down and does what he’s capable of doing, he’s a force that can’t be reckoned with.”

South Alabama led the entire final five minutes, but Florida Atlantic closed to within 77-76 on two Shavar Richardson free throws with 12.8 seconds left. However, Ammons converted twice at the charity stripe to extend the lead back up to three, and then got a key rebound off an FAU miss with 2.3 seconds left.

A desperation attempt from FAU’s Raymond Taylor at the buzzer was off the mark.

“When we were put in a situation to make our free throws, we made them,” said Arrow. “Most of the time it was Mychal—he’s grown up a lot.”

Sophomore Augustine Rubit (Houston, Texas) recorded his 10th double-double of the season with 18 points and a game-high 12 rebounds. Junior Freddie Goldstein (Milwaukee, Wis.) had 15 points on 3-for-6 shooting from 3-point land, and junior Trey Anderson (Carrollton, Texas) added 11 points.

Greg Gantt paced the Owls with 21 points and Richardson came off the bench to pour in 20.

The Jags quickly made up a five-point deficit at halftime with a 12-4 run to start the second half. The Owls answered with nine straight to regain the lead and later found themselves up 54-49 with 9:19 to play in the contest.

A 14-2 South Alabama run, capped off with back-to-back dunks from Ammons and Rubit, gave the Jaguars their largest lead of the contest at 63-56 with 4:40 left. But Florida Atlantic responded with a 9-2 spurt to tie the game at 65-65 at the 1:32 mark.

Ammons hit a pair of free throws with 47.6 seconds on the clock and Gantt made a pair with 20.2 seconds left to send the game into overtime.

South Alabama concludes its regular season Saturday night against Florida International. Tip-off is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. EST.

NOTES: Arrow is one win away from tying Gene Bartow for first place in career Sun Belt Conference wins (110)… The victory is the school’s 299th Sun Belt win all-time… The Jags have won four straight league games for the first time since 2008-09… Rubit moved past USA Hall of Famer Andy Denny into eighth place on USA’s career rebounding list (546)… Thursday was USA’s third overtime game of the season and the team is 2-1 in OT games… Ammons has scored double-digit points with nine rebounds four times this year but has yet to record a double-double… USA is 8-2 this season when Rubit has a double-double… The Jags outrebounded their opponent for the 20th time in 26 games (41-30)… FAU’s shooting percentage decreased in each period while USA’s increased, culminating in a 75.0 conversion rate in overtime.

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—