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HOUSTON – Rice's Max Guercy hit a 3-pointer as the final horn sounded to give the Owls a 96-93 victory in triple overtime over the University of South Alabama men's basketball team Saturday evening at Tudor Fieldhouse.

Rice improves to 4-5 while the Jaguars drop to 5-4.

The Jaguars rallied from 15 down at intermission, their first halftime deficit of the season, to force extra frames, but allowed Guercy to score the final seven points of the contest.

"I thought we did a good job tonight of coming back in the second half and the overtimes, playing with a lot of resolve and a lot of heart," USA head coach Matthew Graves said. "The one thing we talked about this morning was, on the road you need to get off to a good start and we did not do that tonight. We let our inability to make shots early affect how we were going to play defensively and that's a bad recipe on the road. We were fighting an uphill battle all night."

Guercy pump-faked his final attempt to avoid the block and got his shot off from the top of the key just before the buzzer sounded.

"That's basketball; it happens," Graves said. "Unfortunately it seemed like at the end of regulation and in all of those overtimes, they always had the ball with a chance to win. We couldn't really extend—we were in enough foul trouble—and we had to let them take that last shot and not get overextended. Our defense did a great job. When you get beat on a shot like that—obviously you never want to lose—that's one you're going to have to live with."

Trailing 48-35 early in the second half, the Jaguars went on a 14-1 run thanks to 11 straight points from senior Antoine Allen (Baltimore, Md.) to singlehandedly tie the game for the first time since the opening moments of the contest. Allen hit three 3-pointers over a three-minute stretch and had a career-best six for the contest. The Jags as a team set a new single-game school record with 17 triples.

After sophomore Barrington Stevens III (Allen, Texas) hit a trey with 8:28 left in regulation to give South Alabama its first lead of the contest, Rice answered with an 11-4 spurt to go back up eight (64-58) but the Jags sent the game to overtime with a 9-3 run of its own, including a pair of free throws from senior Augustine Rubit (Houston, Texas) with 19.6 seconds on the clock to tie the score at 67-67.

"I think it was simply a matter of effort, communication and guys being in a stance, being more aggressive and not settling for jumpshots like we did in the first half," Graves said of the offensive improvement in the second half. "Our posts were more aggressive in going to the basket.

"This is a great learning experience and lesson that you never know what possession is going to ultimately win or lose the game for you. It wasn't that last double-clutch 3-pointer that lost it for us, it was a multitude of possessions in the first half where we didn't execute offensively or defensively."

South Alabama hit two free throws with 34.0 and 18.6 seconds remaining at the end of the first and second overtimes, respectively, and forced stops on Rice's final possessions to keep the game going, and looked to do the same at the end of the third before Guercy's shot.

Guercy took over for Rice in the final minute and a half, getting two free throws with 1:28 left to cut the USA lead in half (93-91), then hit a jumper with 1:09 remaining to tie the game.

The Rice sophomore also grabbed an offensive rebound with just under 30 seconds left to set up his game winner. He tallied 20 points—15 after regulation—and five assists.

Sean Obi was a rebound short of a 20-20 game, pouring in 25 points with 19 rebounds for the Owls. Austin Ramljak and Keith Washington recorded 15 points each.

Allen finished with a game-high 26 points—scoring all 26 after halftime—thanks to 6-for-12 shooting from 3-point land. Rubit recorded his fourth double-double of the year with 17 points and 10 rebounds before fouling out.

"I think he was really locked in more in the second half," Graves said of Allen. "Defensively he got off to a poor start—Ramljak hit four 3s on us in the first half—and once we started guarding, that translated in how we needed to play offensively."

USA junior Mychal Ammons (Vicksburg, Miss.) tied his career high with 14 rebounds and added 16 points. Freshman Ken Williams (Manvel, Texas) recorded a new personal best with 15 points and dished out a team-high five assists

South Alabama returns to the court next Saturday when it faces No. 19/15 Gonzaga in the Battle in Seattle at 9 p.m. CST.

NOTES: Tonight is believed to be the first triple overtime game in school history… South Alabama has scored 90 or more in back-to-back games for the first time since Dec. 20, 1994 and it's the most points by the program over two consecutive games since March 1, 2003… The Jags had been outscoring the opposition in the first half by 12 points coming into tonight's game and the 23 points before halftime is a new season low… The Jaguars have scored a combined 91 points in the second half in their last two contests… Rubit made just two field goals, but it was enough to pass Andy Denny for sixth place in USA history for field goals made in a career (535)… Rubit went scoreless in the first 15:22 of the contest… South Alabama is 1-10 in its last 11 games against Conference USA opponents… The Jaguars fall to 0-3 on the road this season… USA posted a positive assist/turnover ratio (17/13) for the third time in its last four games… South Alabama's 37 attempts from behind the arc are tied for fifth in school history… The Jags went 13-for-20 from distance in the final 35 minutes after going 4-for-17 in the first half… Seven Jaguars made at least one trifecta… Williams has three 3-pointers in four of his last five outings.

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—