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DETROIT – Falling behind by 19 in the second half, the University of South Alabama men's basketball team rallied to within seven in the final minutes, but a poor shooting night and turnovers doomed the Jaguars to a 66-53 loss Saturday afternoon at Calihan Hall.

The Titans improve to 2-2 while the Jags fall to 1-2.

"I'm extremely disappointed in how we started the game, and that's on me," USA head coach Matthew Graves said. "I've got to do a better job of having our guys ready to go. I felt like both teams played like they were sleepwalking in the first six or seven minutes. We need to take advantage of that, especially on the road. We need to do a better job of getting our guys ready to go from the jump."

Jaguar freshman Taishaun Johnson (Indianapolis, Ind.) recorded his first career double-double with a career-high 15 points and 10 rebounds. Junior Tafari Whittingham (Brooklyn, N.Y.) had 11 on 3-for-3 shooting from the floor.

South Alabama shot 25.0 percent and had 13 turnovers with no assists in the first half, scoring eight points in the first 14 minutes of the contest. The Jags finished with a 32.7 shooting percentage and 22 turnovers.

"When you don't play at the correct pace, those things tend to show up," Graves said. "Detroit does a great job with their length of overplaying and getting to the weak side, but when guys don't cut hard and we're not sharp with our ball movement, things like that are going to happen. To have 22 turnovers is inexcusable and then to compound that, shooting 12-for-23 from the free-throw line, it's a sign that guys weren't ready to play and weren't focused. That starts with me and I've got to do a better job of getting those guys ready to play."

Down 19 with 12:59 left in the game and 16 with 5:37 remaining, South Alabama went on an 11-2 run—getting five points from Johnson—to get to 58-51 with 2:03 on the clock. Johnson started the rally with a three-point play and finished it with a pair of free throws.

Detroit answered with a jumper, and freshman Abdul Lewis (Newark, N.J.) hit a layup to again get within seven, but Lewis' points would be the last for the Jags on the day. Detroit went 4-for-4 at the free-throw line and Juwan Howard Jr. dunked home the final two points.

"I thought we showed very good resolve," Graves said. "We were down 19 and we cut it to seven, and if it wasn't for a couple of missed free throws there, it probably would have been down to three or four points. I'm really proud that they did not give up, and that's a good sign for a young team. With just one senior on the roster, we need more guys that are willing to fight and stay in there. That was good that we grinded there, but ultimately, when you play on the road, you have to put 40 minutes of good basketball in, and tonight I think we played well for maybe 12 to 13 minutes in the second half."

Howard led all scorers with 22 points and made all 14 free-throw attempts. He just missed a double-double with nine rebounds. Anton Wilson had 11 points, and Matthew Grant had nine with five assists.

The Jaguars play at Miami Friday at 6 p.m. CST.

NOTES: Junior John Brown (Charlotte, N.C.), USA's leading scorer coming in to the contest at 18.0 ppg, was held to just one point on 0-for-7 shooting… The 20 first-half points are the program's lowest since totaling 19 at Troy on March 2, 2013… Junior Barrington Stevens (Allen, Texas) had his streak of games of at least a 1-1 assist/turnover ratio ended at 15 with no assists and two turnovers… The last guard to record a double-double was Trey Anderson (18 points, 11 rebounds) vs. Louisiana-Lafayette on Jan. 12, 2012… USA won the rebounding battle 48-37 with 14 offensive rebounds; the 14 offensive boards led to just two points… Howard is averaging 20.0 points vs. South Alabama in his career… After allowing their first two opponents to shoot a combined 57.4 percent in the second half, the Jags held the Titans to 37.0 percent… Tonight is the third straight game a USA newcomer has led the team in scoring or rebounding—Brown led the team in scoring over the first two games and Lewis led in rebounding... South Alabama blocked a season-best six shots, three from Whittingham… Johnson had 10 of the team's 20 points at halftime, and had four of the team's five made field goals.

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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