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MOBILE, Ala. – Down one to Dillard midway through the second half, the University of South Alabama men's basketball team went on a 17-3 run and held off a late charge in an 82-73 victory Tuesday night at the Mitchell Center.

The Jaguars avoided a three-game losing streak and get back over .500 at 6-5. The game was an exhibition for Dillard (3-1).

"Certainly the first thing is, I would have to tip my hat to Dillard," USA head coach Matthew Graves said. "They came in, executed a very well thought-out game plan. They passed the ball around, they screened, they cut and played really well.

"As far as our team, the one thing that I have learned in coaching is that you never take for granted a win. Certainly we're not going to apologize. The way we played is not how we want to play. At the same time, you have a team who hit a bunch of shots and I think some of them were very well contested and our guys continued to make plays."

The NAIA Division I Bleu Devils rallied from down six at halftime and never went away in the second half to put a scare in the Jaguars who were coming off a tough 68-59 loss to No. 20/16 Gonzaga in Seattle on Saturday.

"We go home and we start playing in the NAIA now," Dillard head coach Bernard Griffith said. "So one thing we can look back on from this game tonight is that we can compete with anybody we play against. That's the thing—as long as we can come in and compete and do our job at both ends of the floor, we'll be in good shape going forward."

Dillard got 35 points—the second-highest total in Mitchell Center history—from Tyrone Williams, who came into the contest averaging 11.8 points per contest. He went 15-for-19 from the floor and made two of his four 3-point attempts.

"He was able to get some open looks and knock them down tonight," Griffth said. "He competed hard, and his shots were just falling for us.  That was a big key for us tonight."

Trailing by seven early in the second half, Dillard battled back and took their first lead since the opening moments of the game at 47-46 on a jumper by Williams with 10:54 left in the contest. The Jags did themselves no favors after halftime, missing 11 of their first 12 shots of the half.

USA responded with eight unanswered points, starting with four in a row from junior Dionte Ferguson (Prattville, Ala.). Ferguson converted twice at the free throw line to retake the lead, then grabbed a rebound on the other end and hit a layup for a three-point advantage.

"In the first half he didn't really get the ball and he was pouting about it a little bit," Graves said. "We told him you have to demand the ball and be aggressive and you have to go rebound the basketball. At halftime I think he had one defensive rebound in six minutes and he took that to heart. He came out in the second half and went after the glass and did a really good job getting to the free throw line and that did give us a little spark. He needs to understand that's what his strength is, to be able to give us an extra possession or two off the glass."

South Alabama made their next three field goals and senior Augustine Rubit (Houston, Texas) dunked home a 56-48 advantage.

After another Williams jumper, the Jags reeled off the next seven points—the final five from Rubit—to take what seemed like a commanding 63-50 lead, but a 15-6 Bleu Devil run, capped off by a 3-pointer from Jarrain Jenkins cut the deficit to 69-65 with 2:28 left in the contest.

USA made just three of their next six free-throw attempts, allowing Dillard to stick around and a Williams layup drew the Bleu Devils closer at 77-73 with 21.0 left. However, the Jags went 5-for-6 at the charity stripe the rest of the way, forced two misses and got a key offensive rebound after a miss to pull away.

Rubit paced the Jags with 21 points and 11 rebounds, despite a 3-for-10 night at the free throw line. Junior Mychal Ammons (Vicksburg, Miss.) added 17 points and seven boards while dishing out a team-best three assists and blocking two shots.

"I thought they did a great job of demanding the basketball," Graves said of Rubit and Ammons. "You add everything up and we got 38 points and 18 rebounds from our starting '4' and '5.' The biggest adjustment is that we need to throw them the ball more. We got complacent in throwing the ball around the perimeter and not looking to attack and really play with a purpose. We need to go back and understand where our advantages are. Tonight we had advantages at the '4' and the '5,' like we will on a lot of nights, so our offense needs to again start inside out and we just got away from that at stretches tonight."

Sophomore Barrington Stevens III (Allen, Texas) also reached double-figures in points with 13.

South Alabama takes on Arkansas Saturday night at 7 p.m. in North Little Rock, Ark.

NOTES: Rubit stands one rebound away from 1,000 for his career… The double-double is his fifth of the season and 47th of his career, most among active Division I players… South Alabama led at halftime for the ninth time in 11 games this year… The Jaguars entered the contest first in the Sun Belt Conference in field goal percentage defense but allowed Dillard to shoot 51.9 percent, the most by a USA opponent this season, and was second in scoring defense, but gave up 73 points, the second-most in regulation in 2013-14… Williams' 35 points are the most given up by South Alabama since Carl Landry of Purdue scored 35 on Nov. 22, 2005… Williams set a new Mitchell Center record for field goals made with 15… USA's four 3-pointers and 21.1 percentage are new season lows and the team went 0-for-9 from distance in the second half… The Jags' 30 free throws made are the most by the team since 2008 and the seven turnovers tie their season low.

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).

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