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MOBILE, Ala. – The University of South Alabama men's basketball team came back from a 10-point deficit at halftime and shot 62.5 percent from the floor in the second half in an 89-85 win over Louisiana-Lafayette Thursday night at the Mitchell Center.

The Jaguars win for the sixth time in the last seven meetings with the Ragin' Cajuns and move to 7-14 overall and 5-5 in the Sun Belt Conference. ULL drops to 11-10 and 5-5.

USA freshman Taishaun Johnson (Indianapolis, Ind.) scored a career-high 23 points—15 in the second half—and went 9 of 10 at the foul line to lead the Jags to a season-high-tying 56 points in the after halftime.

"Overall, we had a solid first half except for our transition defense and rebounding the ball," Jaguar head coach Matthew Graves said. "In the locker room we talked about how if we do those two things, we would really like the results in the second half. I thought we did an outstanding job in the second half of fighting through fatigue and a little bit of adversity. Ken [Williams] and Taishaun played with four fouls for a vast majority of that. Adbul got hit in the mouth and his tooth was hurting. Guys came in and played really well. It was a hard-fought victory.

"(UL Lafayette) is a really deep, physical team. I think you can tell by watching the game that their bodies are more physically mature than ours. It's a great lesson for us moving forward on how much we have to invest and get in the weight room. Overall, I'm really proud of our effort and how we fought all the way to the end."

Johnson was one of four Jaguars in double-digit scoring. Backcourt-mates Ken Williams (Houston, Texas) and Barrington Stevens III (Allen, Texas) scored 19 and 17 points respectively, and hit three 3-pointers each. Stevens dished out a game-high six assists with no turnovers, while Williams tied his personal-best with five helpers.

"I think they made timely shots," Graves said of Williams, Stevens and Johnson. "It wasn't just one guy. It was by committee. They're understanding how to play off of each other even better. When Taishaun drives, our spacing is getting better. He did a better job tonight of not over dribbling. He has a tendency to do that, obviously. Tonight he didn't over dribble as much as he normally did, and we got the ball moving side to side more in the second half. We talk about getting the ball to three sides of the floor, and we really did that. It made them guard a little bit longer, and I think they wore down because of it."

USA senior Dionte Ferguson (Prattville, Ala.) scored all 16 of his points after halftime on 6 of 9 shooting and had four blocks.

South Alabama trailed by as many as 13 points in the first half, but used a 15-4 run—making six of their seven shots from the floor—to turn a seven-point deficit into a 58-54 lead with 10:36 left in the contest. Ferguson had five of the Jags' eight unanswered points to start the run, and Stevens and Williams finished it off with a triple and a jumper, respectively, on back-to-back trips down the floor.

ULL responded with six of the next eight points to tie the game at 60-60, but USA came right back with a 13-4 spurt to go up 73-64 with just under five minutes left.

Issues at the free-throw line kept Louisiana-Lafayette in the game as South Alabama went 6-for-15 at the stripe in a 1:38 stretch to let the Cajuns get as close as three in the final 31.4 seconds, but the Jags made their last five to hold on for the win.

"We couldn't stop them in the second half," ULL head coach Bob Marlin said. "We came out and couldn't defend at the level we should. We are last in the league in defense and our defending was horrible. We didn't defend, giving them 63 percent.  We didn't get a whistle, missed a couple free throws, didn't get a break and still had the ball to be tied."

Shawn Long recorded 20 of his game-high 26 points in the second half and added 12 rebounds for his eighth double-double of the season. Kasey Shepherd had 20 points—on five 3-pointers—and five assists off the bench, and Devonta Walker and Johnathan Stove added 11 and 10 points, respectively.

The Jaguars went 15-for-24 from the floor and 5-for-7 from 3-point range in the second half, and shot 58.3 percent for the contest, the team's second-highest conversion rate all season.

"When they didn't get transition baskets and when they weren't getting offensive putbacks and extra possessions, we were able to get out in transition," Graves noted. "I really think it wore them down over the course of the second half. They weren't really able to set their defense and I don't know exactly how many points we scored in transition in the second half, but I would venture to guess we probably doubled them up. That led us to shooting a higher percentage."

South Alabama travels to Louisiana-Monroe Saturday afternoon for a 4 p.m. contest.

NOTES: South Alabama rallied from 15- and 13-point deficits, and scored 89 points in both games against Louisiana-Lafayette this season, shooting a combined 64.8 percent from the floor in the second half (20-30, 25-24)… USA was averaging 54 points in its previous two games prior to tonight's 89-point outburst… Stevens had six assists and no turnovers in a game for the first time in his career… Long is averaging 18.0 points and 12.7 rebounds in six career games against the Jaguars, and has increased his point total in each of the last five contests… USA blocked a season-high seven shots; ULL rejected eight shots, tied for the most by an opponent this season… UL Lafayette outscored South Alabama 42-28 in the paint and 22-11 on second-chance points thanks to 20 offensive rebounds… Williams moved up to 12th at USA for career 3-pointers with 107; he needs one more to tie for 11th… ULL won the rebounding battle 37-30 overall and 19-10 in the first half alone.

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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