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MIAMI – Falling behind 23-0 to start the game, the University of South Alabama men's basketball team outscored No. 17/20 Miami by 11 the rest of the way but a comeback attempt was denied as the Hurricanes took an 87-75 win Friday night at the Bank United Center.

The Canes stay undefeated at 7-0 while the Jaguars fall to 1-3.

"Obviously when you spot a team 23 points to start the game, you dig yourself a hole right away," USA head coach Matthew Graves said. "Part of that is having a young team and part of that is in our preparation. Guys were nervous; they were a little anxious playing a ranked team for the first time and they got overwhelmed by the moment. Once they settled in a little bit and realized it was just five guys playing basketball, I was really proud of how we fought back. Not to take anything away from Miami, they're a tremendous team and they're going to have a fantastic season, but I'm really proud of how we battled back, especially in the second half."

UM shot 54.4 percent for the game and held USA to 40.5 percent, including 31.3 percent before halftime. Sheldon McClellan paced all players with 17 points on 6 of 6 shooting and Tonye Jekiri nearly had a triple-double with 13 points, eight rebounds and eight assists.

The first eight-plus minutes were all Miami as South Alabama missed its first 10 shots and committed three turnovers. The Hurricanes took advantage, converting 9 of 14 from the floor, including its first three 3-pointers.

"Let's face it, when you look at our team out there lined up against Miami, we're going to have to make some 3s," Graves said. "We got some looks early, but our guys got frustrated when they didn't go down and that had an effect on how we were going to guard. That's going to be a teaching point when we watch film; whether your shots are going in or not, it doesn't matter. You have to attack the next possession and move on from there. We can't control if the shot goes in or not, all we can control is, was that a good possession for South Alabama, and move on. As long as we have that mindset, we're going to be OK."

USA fought back in the second half, outscoring UM 21-10 over 6:23 after the Canes opened the period with a bucket, and cut the deficit to 13. Six different Jags scored, with sophomore Ken Williams (Houston, Texas) contributing nine points and junior Barrington Stevens III (Allen, Texas) adding four.

Miami answered each rally and wouldn't allow the Jags to get any closer than 12 until the final minute when freshman Taishaun Johnson (Indianapolis, Ind.) hit a 3-pointer with 39 seconds remaining.

The Jaguars outscored the Hurricanes 54-44 in the second half, scoring more points in the final 20 minutes than they had in their previous game at Detroit (53), and posting their highest second-half total since putting up 55 on Alcorn State in 2011-12. Fourteen of Williams' points came after halftime and Johnson had nine of his 13 in the second half.

"In the last 32 minutes, we played closer to South Alabama basketball," Graves said. "When a team gets up 23-0, there's a tendency to let down on their part. We never got it under 10, but we kept chipping away, making some runs and making some plays. What we got out of this was, if we played hard, good things are going to happen. Against Southern Miss and Detroit, we had too many stretches where we didn't play hard, so we have to continue to work on that."

Senior Dionte Ferguson (Prattville, Ala.) recorded his first career double-double with 12 points and a game-best 14 rebounds, setting or tying his career high in both categories.

"He played hard and he was undersized by a big margin, but you can't measure a player's heart and he was in there fighting and trying to make plays," Graves said. "He has to understand when he gets that offensive rebound, sometimes he has to kick it out to a shooter. I've never questioned Dionte's effort and he's just got to help mentor the other bigs and lead by example in that way, and today was a really good start for that."

Williams was one of five Jaguars in double-digit scoring with a team-best 16 points and he added a career-high four steals. Johnson and freshman Abdul Lewis (Newark, N.J.) came off the bench to score 13 and 10 points, respectively, and Stevens added 12 and five assists.

Miami also had five in double-digits, and had 21 assists with nine turnovers.

South Alabama returns home to host Spring Hill Tuesday at 7:05 p.m.

NOTES: South Alabama won the battle of the boards 43-35; the team has outrebounded three of its four opponents this season and ranks third in the league in rebounding margin at plus-3.8… Ferguson's rebounding total ties the most by a USA player since Augustine Rubit had 15 vs. North Texas on Feb. 23, 2013… USA has scored 41 total points in its last two first halves (20 at Detroit, 21 at Miami)… The Jags missed all nine of their 3-point attempts and went 1-for-6 at the free-throw line in the first half… In addition to Stevens' 12 points, he dished out a team-best five assists, the most by a Jag this season… Johnson has scored in double-digits in each of his last three games, averaging 12.7 points over that stretch… Lewis reached double-figures in scoring for the first time in his young career; he had eight points in the first three games combined.

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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