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SAN MARCOS, Texas – Joel Wright made two free throws with 2.6 seconds left to give Texas State a 67-66 overtime victory over the University of South Alabama men's basketball team Thursday night at Strahan Coliseum.

The Bobcats pick up a key win to stay tied for eighth in the Sun Belt Conference standings with a 4-9 league record and 8-18 mark overall. The Jaguars fall to 2-11 in conference play and 8-18 overall.

USA rallied from a five-point deficit with 36.7 seconds left in regulation, getting a 3-pointer from sophomore Barrington Stevens III (Allen, Texas) with 16.3 left on the clock to force overtime.

Junior Mychal Ammons (Vicksburg, Miss.) hit two free throws at the 14.9 mark of overtime to give the Jags the lead before Texas State's final possession.

"We have good kids in that locker room and they care," USA head coach Matthew Graves said. "We just need to understand that you have to play a full 40 minutes—and in this case, a full 45—and we just had too many lapses tonight where we didn't have enough of a sense of urgency from start to finish.

"Our shot selection late in the first half really hurt us; we took three bad shots in a row and didn't work the basketball. In the second half, we showed some resolve. We were down five with 30 seconds to go and Barrington made a really nice play and scored. In overtime, it went back and forth. We did some nice things and it came down to that last play."

Neither team led by more than two points in the extra frame and the final six points of the contest came at the charity stripe. After USA senior Augustine Rubit (Houston, Texas) hit a '3' with just under 42 seconds left to give the Jaguars a 64-63 advantage, Wright converted twice at the stripe to retake the lead, 65-64.

On South Alabama's next possession, Ammons was fouled and made both free-throw attempts to go back up one.

Texas State called timeout and put the ball in Wright's hands, who got fouled driving the baseline.

South Alabama trailed by five with 36.7 seconds left in the second half but got a key 3-pointer from Ammons to cut the margin to 55-53, then after a foul, Reid Koenen made just 1 of 2 at the line for a three-point lead. Stevens buried a trey near the top of the key to tie the game at 56-56.

"We wanted to come down and set a high ball-screen for a pick-and-pop, and they ended up switching so Barrington ended up on one of their bigs," Graves said. "He made a great move and the big backed up so he was able to get a good shot off. It was a really nice shot that he made."

The Bobcats turned it over shortly thereafter, but a Stevens layup at the buzzer was blocked.

Koenen led all scorers with 26 points on the strength of seven 3-pointers, with 17 of those points and five 3-pointers coming in the first half. Wright added 21 points and a team-high eight rebounds.

"I was disappointed with our lack of communication; we did not build upon some of the things we did really well on Saturday," Graves said of the defensive effort. "When we were in our zone (Saturday), we talked, we communicated and we located shooters. Tonight, we had Koenen on the scouting report as a shooter and you have to know where those guys are and communicate with each other and we allowed him to hit five 3s in the first half and he hit seven for the game. It's disappointing that we didn't locate him time and time again."

Ammons posted his second straight double-double with 15 points and 13 rebounds. Rubit tallied a team-best 22 points and four blocks. Stevens tied his career-high with six assists.

"It was good to see Mychal play two good games in a row and put some things together," Graves said. "He understands that he has to be stronger with the ball, but 15 points and 13 rebounds is a strong game for him."

The Jaguars take on Troy Saturday in the Mitchell Center at 7:05 p.m.

NOTES: Tonight was the first-ever meeting between the two schools… Rubit moved into 12th place in league history with 1,832 career points… Ammons has back-to-back double-doubles for the first time since opening the 2012-13 season with a pair… South Alabama falls to 0-2 this season in overtime contests with both coming in the state of Texas (Dec. 7 at Rice)… The Jags are 0-4 this season against new Sun Belt members and in games in the state of Texas… The Bobcats' 26 second-half points are the fewest by a USA opponent since Spring Hill had 18 on Dec. 2; the team had allowed their opponent to score at least 48 in each of the last three games… Ammons has seven double-digit rebound games this season and is averaging 17.5 points and 12.0 rebounds in his last two outings… Rubit has nine blocks in his last two games, his most over a two-game span in his career… Stevens has given out six assists—his career high—in three of his last four contests.

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—