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MONROE, La. – Louisiana-Monroe outscored the University of South Alabama men's basketball team 36-21 after halftime to coast to a 71-54 win Thursday night at Fant-Ewing Arena.

The Warhawks improve to 9-14 overall and 6-9 in the Sun Belt Conference, while the Jaguars fall to 9-19 and 3-12.

USA shot just 26.9 percent from the floor after halftime and scored its fewest points of the season. The Warhawks led for the entire second half and used a 16-3 run late in the contest to pull away.

"I really wanted see how we would come out and perform because we knew this was a game we needed to compete and win if we wanted to continue our season in the conference tournament," Jaguar head coach Matthew Graves said. "I thought we started off OK—not great—but we were in the game. We got down 10 in the first half and I thought our team showed a lot of resolve and came back and tied the game. But in the last four minutes we had three turnovers that got them in a rhythm.

"At the start of the second half I was really disappointed in how we came out of the locker room. We missed a loose ball, got scored on in the post and it really snowballed from there. In this game, you've got to be strong and physical and have to want contact; they were the more physical, more aggressive team, and nine times out of 10 when that happens, you're not going to come out on the side you want."

Louisiana-Monroe had all five starters in double-figure scoring, led by Jayon James' game-high 19 points on 8 of 12 shooting. Chinedu Amajoyi had 12 points and eight rebounds, Nick Coppola totaled 11 points with a game-best six assists, and Tylor Ongwae and Marvin Williams added 10 points each.

"They were the aggressors," Graves said. "James was terrific; he was able to beat our bigs off the bounce all night long and get in the paint. We would try to come over and block a shot then let them get an offensive rebound. They were clearly the better team, especially in the second half."

Senior Augustine Rubit (Houston, Texas) was the only Jaguar in double-digits with 14. He moved into second place on the school's all-time scoring list with 1,868 points.

Trailing by 10 midway through the first half, the Jaguars scored nine unanswered points to pull within one and later tied the score at 33-33 on a layup from junior Mychal Ammons (Vicksburg, Miss.).

James scored the final points of the first half and opened the second-half scoring as well to start a 10-3 run to put ULM up 45-36 in the early going.

Buckets from junior Dionte Ferguson (Prattville, Ala.) and Rubit kept the Jags close but their shooting touch cooled after a Ferguson layup with 8:01 to play. USA went almost 7 ½ minutes without a field goal and ULM took advantage, pouring on a 16-3 run—including nine consecutive—to take a 19-point lead with three minutes left in the contest.

In addition to shooting 7-for-26 from the floor after halftime, the Jags missed all 10 attempts from 3-point land in the second half and was 3-for-21 for the contest from distance.

"Going 0-for-10 on 3-pointers doesn't help anything, but we did have some good looks and on the inside, Augustine was 1-for-6 in the second half," Graves noted. "We were really out of rhythm and we didn't get much from some of our other guys tonight. It was just an overall disappointing effort in a game you needed to win to be successful."

South Alabama plays its final road game of the season Sunday at Louisiana-Lafayette. Tip-off is scheduled for 3 p.m. and the game will be broadcast on the Sun Belt Network (check local listings).

NOTES: Louisiana-Monroe sweeps the season series with South Alabama for the first time since joining the conference in 2006-07… Not only did Rubit move into second in school history in scoring, he is now ninth in the Sun Belt record books… The Warhawks dominated the paint, outscoring the Jaguars 40-24 and winning the rebounding battle 35-27… The Jags scored their fewest points of the season one game after putting up their most against a Division I opponent (86) on Saturday against Troy… Rubit has blocked multiple shots in each of his last four games and is two shy from moving into the league's career top 25 with 130… Freshman Aakim Saintil (Roselle, N.J.) put up three assists with no turnovers and had three steals, his most thefts since grabbing a career-best five at Middle Tennessee on Nov. 30.

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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