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TROY, Ala. – Trailing by 16 late in the first half and by nine at halftime, the University of South Alabama men’s basketball team outscored Troy 34-21 after intermission and made a key defensive stop late in a 53-49 victory Saturday night at Trojan Arena.

The Jaguars close the regular season with a 17-11 record overall and a 14-6 mark in the Sun Belt Conference. The Trojans lose their fifth straight and fall to 11-20 and 6-14.

“It wasn’t pretty but we found a way to get it done,” interim USA head coach Jeff Price said. “That’s how our games have been with Troy this year; they’ve been slugfests and grind-it-out (wins). To our players’ credit, in the second half we did a real nice job.”

South Alabama got double-doubles from senior Javier Carter (Dallas, Texas), who had 10 points and a career-high 13 rebounds, and junior Augustine Rubit (Houston, Texas), who scored a team-best 13 points with 10 boards.

For Carter it is his third straight double-double—a career-long streak—thanks to 5 of 6 shooting from the floor. He also blocked five shots, including one with 12 seconds left that helped preserve a three-point lead.

“I thought their presence was great; Javier has been playing really well,” Price commented. “He’s been protecting the rim so well, particularly on the defensive end and he’s become a threat offensively. He hit two nice jump-hooks on the baseline, he can face up and shoot it and he’s really coming around. That’s going to be big for us going into the tournament.”

The pair combined to score 17 of the team’s 34 second-half points on 8 of 10 shooting. Junior Antoine Allen (Baltimore, Md.) tallied nine of his 12 points after halftime.

Emil Jones paced the Trojans with a game-best 22 points, eight rebounds and four assists. Westley Hinton added 10 points off the bench.

Six straight points from Carter single-handedly rallied the Jags from a one-point deficit and gave them a lead for good. He dunked home a miss from Allen with 5:07 left, grabbed a rebound on Troy’s next possession and got a layup on the other end. Almost a minute and a half later, he hit another layup to put USA up 48-43.

Three points would be as close as the Trojans would get the rest of the way as Troy hit just one field goal in the final two minutes, thanks to Carter’s block and a 3-point miss with five seconds left.

“Championship-level teams make plays when they have to make them,” Price noted. “When we had to get stops or had to make plays and get rebounds, we did it. That’s a good sign, especially on the road.

“Winning a tough game on the road is big. You always want to have momentum going in, but I think it’s good for our team to find a way to win a really tough game like this on the road. Hopefully we’ll get some carry over.”

The Jags’ second-half comeback started just before the halftime buzzer when senior Trey Anderson (Carrollton, Texas) banked home a 3-pointer. USA carried the momentum over into the second half, scoring on four straight possessions to tie the game at 28-28. After a Troy free throw, a jumper from Allen at the 16:53 mark gave the Jaguars their first lead of the game.

“We did a nice job in the second half of getting the ball inside,” Price said. “We set the precedent early in the second half when we went into Mychal (Ammons) right away in the post and from that point on we just kept pounding it in.”

South Alabama’s defense held Troy to just one field goal in the first seven minutes of the second half and 29.6 percent from the floor after halftime.

“We defended better and we keep talking about if you’re going to have trouble on the offensive end, you can’t stop defending – that’s how you dig holes,” Price said. “We held them in the second half defensively.”

South Alabama is the No. 3 seed in the Sun Belt Tournament and will play the winner of Western Kentucky-Louisiana at Monroe Saturday night at 8:30 p.m.

NOTES: South Alabama has won five in a row over Troy, tying the longest streak in the series by the Jaguars… Troy has lost all five games since head coach Don Maestri won his 499th game on Feb. 14… USA has rallied from second-half deficits to win just twice this season (2-11) and both have come against Troy… Rubit has 16 double-doubles this season, second most in the conference… Carter’s third straight double-double exceeds his career total coming into the 2012-13 season… DeAndré Coleman is the only Jaguar other than Rubit to record three straight double-doubles in the last five years… Carter is the second player in South Alabama history and 13th in league history to record 200 blocks in a career; he is tied with James Moore of New Mexico State for 12th in the SBC record books… Carter has 17 blocks in his last three games, the most in a three-game span in his career… USA’s 15-0 run over both halves is the second-largest unanswered run by the team this season… The Jags are 12-1 overall and 10-1 vs. Sun Belt teams when outshooting their opponent… South Alabama also hit a 3-pointer at the halftime buzzer Thursday at Western Kentucky to trail by nine at the break, but lost 79-73… The Jaguars are third in the nation in free throws made per game and fourth in free throws attempted per game but set season lows with four free throws and nine attempts… USA won for the first time when scoring 59 or fewer points (1-6, 1-4 SBC)… The 49 points allowed are a new 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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