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MOBILE, Ala. – Down as many as 12 points late in the first half, the University of South Alabama men's basketball team outscored Auburn-Montgomery 20-3 over the next 8:24 to take control and eventually pull away for an 88-68 win Friday night at the Mitchell Center.

The Jaguars win their home opener for the 24th consecutive season and start 1-0 for the 10th time in the last 11 years. The game was an exhibition for the Warhawks.

"First off, I thought Auburn-Montgomery did an outstanding job of spreading us out and making it difficult on our ball-screen coverage," USA head coach Matthew Graves said. "We really struggled and weren't aggressive. At halftime, they had made eight 3s and we committed two fouls. It was our mentality; we were soft on the ball, we were soft in rotations and we were really soft rebounding the basketball; obviously that attributed to them scoring 45 points at halftime.

"In the second half I thought we made some good adjustments on ball-screen coverage, we limited their good looks and ultimately we go on to win by 20."

Junior Nick Stover (Los Angeles, Calif.), in his first game since the 2013-14 season after transferring from Loyola Marymount, set a new career high with 17 points and tied his personal best with nine rebounds. He shot 6-for-12 from the floor and 3-for-5 from 3-point land.

"I'm really proud of Nick, I thought he got us going," Graves said. "I certainly think this is a confidence builder for him; he hasn't played competitively in over a year after sitting out, and in the exhibition game he was in foul trouble so he didn't get a chance to get in a really great rhythm. His emotion, his passion, he brought that energy, that's what we need and he did a good job with that."

Junior Ken Williams (Houston, Texas) also had three 3-pointers and paced the Jags with 21 points. Junior Tafari Whittingham (Brooklyn, N.Y.) came off the bench to post career-high totals of 14 points and seven rebounds.

The Warhawks' Phillip Rankin led all players with a game-high 27 points – on 11 of 20 shooting – and added nine boards.

AUM took control midway through the first half with a 16-2 run – the final 11 unanswered on three 3-pointers – to take a 23-16 lead, then following eight straight from USA, put up nine in a row for a 32-24 advantage at the 4:43 mark.

A 10-3 burst stretched the Warhawks' lead to 42-30 with 1:28 to play, but sophomore Taishaun Johnson (Indianapolis, Ind.) scored the final five points of the half and the Jags went into intermission down 42-35.

Roderick Robinson scored the first two points of the second half for Auburn-Montgomery, but it was all South Alabama after that. Junior Georgi Boyanov (Lovech, Bulgaria) and Williams hit baskets on back-to-back trips down the floor, and after an AUM free throw, USA poured in the next 11 points while forcing 11 straight misses on defense.

The scoring rally ended up 15-3 over a span of 6:40 for a 50-45 lead with 12:35 to play.

"I thought we started attacking the basket," Graves noted. "When we got in the paint we were able to score at and around the rim — if you look at the shot chart from the first half and the second half, we had a much better emphasis on getting the ball and making paint touches. In the first half we didn't take bad shots, we took quick shots; we didn't give guys a chance to get their hands on the ball and move it to put them in scramble situations."

Auburn-Montgomery didn't allow South Alabama to pull away until the seven-minute mark when nine unanswered points gave USA a double-digit lead for the first time and a 21-6 burst put the game away.

"I feel confident we have the pieces to be very successful, there is no question this is the most talented team we've had here in the last three years," Graves stated. "We have to understand that it is very important that we learn to play together, and we are getting there. We had spurts where we looked pretty good together, but it is going to take some time."

The Warhawks shot 43.6 percent (17-39) from the floor and 47.1 percent (8-17) from 3-point land in the first half, but just 31.0 percent (9-29) from the field after halftime and missed all 13 attempts from behind the arc.

"We switched ball screens 1-4 and with our five man, instead of stepping out and trying to contain the dribbler, we just dropped him and let the guard turn the corner," said Graves. "We basically forced them to take contested floaters and eight-foot shots over our length, and they weren't able to put us in rotations with our five man out of position. It was a very good adjustment."

On the other end of the floor, the Jaguars converted 60 percent (18-30) of their field-goal attempts in the second half.

South Alabama takes a day off before traveling to Raleigh, N.C. to take on N.C. State Sunday evening at 5 p.m. in a game televised on ESPNU.

NOTES: Williams recorded his 12th career 20-point game, with 11 coming in since the start of the 2014-15 season… South Alabama won the battle of the boards 51-40 overall, including 25-14 in the second half alone… Senior Barrington Stevens III (Allen, Texas) just missed double-digit points with nine, tied his personal best with three steals and did not commit a turnover… Whittingham helped the USA bench outscore AUM's 32-13; 12 of his 14 points came after halftime… Boyanov led all players with 10 rebounds, his fourth career double-digit rebounding performance… USA has scored 81 points or more in three of its last five games dating back to the end of last year… Williams and Nikola Marijan (Backi Brestovac, Serbia) are the only two USA freshman to start a season opener in the last five years.

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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