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LAFAYETTE, La. – The University of South Alabama men's basketball team recorded 54 points in the second half and sophomore Ken Williams (Houston, Texas) scored a career-high 28 to give the Jaguars an 89-82 win over Louisiana-Lafayette Saturday night at the Cajundome.

USA ends ULL's 12-game home win streak and improves to 5-12 overall and 3-4 in the Sun Belt Conference. The Ragin' Cajuns drop to 10-7 and 4-2.

The Jags rallied from a 15-point deficit in the first half and were down nine at halftime to win for the third time in four visits to the Cajundome. USA shot 66.7 percent from the floor in the second half.

"I thought we came out very tentative and I was concerned it was going to be a lot like the Texas State game where physicality was a big issue," Jaguar head coach Matthew Graves said. "We got down 15 and it would have been very easy for this young, inexperienced team to pack it in. What we did was decide that we were going to play physical, we were going to attack the rim and we slowly kept fighting and fighting.

"My message at halftime was that our offense was fine; scoring 35 points in a half should be plenty, but I said you can't give up 44 points in a half and expect to win. They really hung tough and we talked about every four minutes to get a little tougher and dig a little deeper."

Williams becomes the first Jaguar to record 23 points or more in four straight games since Jeff Hodge in 1988-89 by scoring 14 in each half and shooting 9-for-14 from the floor and 3-for-4 from 3-point land.

Freshman Taishaun Johnson (Indianapolis, Ind.) joined him in double-figures with 15 points—13 in the second half—and grabbed 10 rebounds for his second double-double of the season.

"All three of our guards, Ken, Taishaun and Barrington (Stevens), did an outstanding job; they didn't come out in the second half and played 20 straight minutes, took care of the ball and did some wonderful things" Graves said. "If you can get two guards to combine for 15 defensive rebounds, it allows us to get out in transition a little bit more and it takes some of the pressure off of our bigs."

The Jaguars scored eight unanswered points—getting four straight buckets from four different players—to tie the contest at 53-53, then used a 14-5 run over a four-minute stretch to take a commanding 75-68 lead.

On the possession prior to the 14-5 spurt, Johnson gave South Alabama its first lead of the contest on a steal and a layup, then after Shawn Long converted an old-fashioned three-point play, freshman Abdul Lewis (Newark, N.J.) scored the first two of four straight points from the free-throw line, then added a jumper on his next trip down the floor to go up two.

Lewis fouled out thirty seconds later and the Cajuns hit a '3' to cut the margin to 66-65, but the Jags scored the next five points, and following a ULL free throw, freshman Georgi Boyanov (Lovech, Bulgaria) nailed a triple to put USA up six. Louisiana-Lafayette got another point from the free-throw line, but Johnson answered with a jumper to go up 75-68.

"We've got guys that are capable of making 3s but this team has started to figure out since Christmas that if we get our posts players touches and get paint touches by driving the ball, our shooting percentages will go up," Graves said. "We've done a great job of getting fouled and getting to the free-throw line. When you do that, you get into a really nice rhythm. As a team, we're in a really nice rhythm right now."

The Cajuns got as close as 77-74 with 2:15 left in the game, but the Jaguars responded with the next four and put the game away at the charity stripe with six in a row in the final 37.4 seconds.

"This team is starting to figure out togetherness and moving on to the next possession," Graves said. "We talk a lot about it, but I think until you feel it and get in the moment in a hostile environment, now they can really take a big step forward. They've had to handle some adversity, they stuck together, we're huddling more and picking guys up off the floor. We're starting to show signs of becoming a true team and starting to establish a culture of who we want to be and what we want to be about."

Long paced Louisiana-Lafayette with 22 points and a game-high 22 rebounds, while Kasey Shepherd and Brian Williams had 13 points each. Jay Wright had 12.

Boyanov came off the bench to post 14 points on 2 of 2 shooting from distance, and added a career-high three steals. Lewis and senior Dionte Ferguson (Prattville, Ala.) added 11 points each, and Ferguson tallied three blocks.

The Jaguars return home Monday to host Arkansas-Little Rock at 7:05 p.m.

NOTES: The 15-point rally is the team's biggest comeback win of the season, and the largest overall since being down 16 at Troy on March 2, 2013… South Alabama has scored 71 points or more in six straight games for the first time since doing it nine consecutive times in 2002-03… Williams is averaging 25.0 points, and is shooting 60.0 percent from the floor and 71.4 percent from behind the arc in his last four games… He tied his career high tonight with seven rebounds… The Jags' 66.7 percent shooting in the second half is a season high and the 54 points are second most this season… After not outshooting an opponent in the first 10 games of the year, USA has had a higher shooting percentage in five of its last seven games… South Alabama won for the first time this season when trailing at halftime (1-8)… Ferguson rejected three shots for the second straight game; he has seven multi-block performances this season… While the USA offense is averaging 82.7 points in the last six games, the defense is allowing 84.7… South Alabama has shot 60 percent or better in a half twice in the last four games… ULL shot 48.5 percent from the floor in the first half but just 31.4 percent in the second, the lowest second-half shooting percentage by a USA opponent this season… The Jags' eight turnovers are the second fewest this season and lowest since committing six at Miami on Nov. 28… USA scored 40 points in the paint to tie a season high… The Cajuns won the battle of the boards 44-35—including 17 offensive rebounds—and had 16 second-chance points.

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—