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BATON ROUGE, La. – LSU's Ben Simmons led all players with 23 points and 16 rebounds as the Tigers defeated the University of South Alabama men's basketball team 78-66 Thursday night at the Maravich Center, part of the Legends Classic.

The No. 23/19 Tigers remain undefeated at 3-0 while the Jaguars drop to 1-2.

"I thought we came out and played really well," USA head coach Matthew Graves said. "We got off to a good start. That's obviously important when you are on the road against a very good team in LSU. I felt like early on, in the first 12 minutes, we played some pretty good basketball. We took better shots. We did a decent job of keeping them out of transition.

"The turning point in the game was eight minutes to go in the first half. We went into a little bit of a drought. We went 2 for 14 through that stretch. It extended a little bit, but during the second half I thought we battled back. We kept them out of transition and took better shots. Ultimately your margin for error is very small against a team like this. That eight minutes to end the first half really hurt us."

LSU led by 12 at halftime and as many as 19 early in the second half. The Jags got as close as 10 midway through the period but was unable to get any closer.

South Alabama shot 48.5 percent in the second half after converting just 31.3 percent in the first, and were even in points 38-38.

"I'm really proud of how we hung together," Graves said. "It would have been easy to hang your head; you're down 19 on the road and coming off a loss at N.C. State. Our guys fought and played really well."

The Jaguars had four in double-digit points, led by junior Nick Stover's (Los Angeles, Calif.) team-high 13, with 11 coming after halftime. Junior Georgi Boyanov (Lovech, Bulgaria) had 12, and juniors Ken Williams (Houston, Texas) and Don MuepoKelly (Fontana, Calif.) had 10 each.

MuepoKelly grabbed a career-best 10 rebounds for his first-ever double-double.

"Don was very aggressive driving the ball," Graves stated. "When he didn't settle for jump shots, he was able to get in the paint and cause some problems with his physicality and the way he got five offensive rebounds. He was absolutely tremendous off the bench.

"I was happy to see Nick settle and get in more of a groove. Shooting 6 of 9 was very efficient for him."

South Alabama trailed 23-19 at the 9:57 mark of the first half after the second of back-to-back dunks from junior Tafari Whittingham (Brooklyn, N.Y.), and a 5-0 run from sophomore Shaq Calhoun (Rome, Ga.) closed the gap to 32-26 with 5:07 left before halftime. However, the Jags made just one field goal in the final 6:21 – none in the last 3:51 – as the Tigers scored eight of the final 10 points of the half to take a 40-28 advantage into the break.

USA finished the half shooting 1 for 10 from the floor.

"You have to credit them (LSU)," Graves said. "They are long and do some things defensively that make it hard. We quit driving and kicking and took too many early shots. When you do that, you don't have defensive balance and you can't get back in time. That was really a turning point. We were holding them down in the half court, but we just weren't able to make up any ground."

The Tigers were unable to completely pull away, despite opening a 19- and 16-point lead in the second half. The Jaguars got to 57-47 with 10:59 left after four unanswered points from Stover, and closed to 11 points three times in the final four minutes but could not break into single digits.

Simmons set new season highs in both points and rebounds. He scored 13 of his 23 points in the first half, and recorded nine of his 16 boards after intermission. He added three assists, two steals and no turnovers.

"I think it will be fun watching him in the NBA over the next 10 to 15 years," Graves said. "He's an outstanding basketball player. As a coach, what I appreciate about him is his willingness to share and pass the basketball. You can tell he has a real joy playing the game. It's fun to watch even though it's not fun to coach against him."

The Jaguars move on to the Kennesaw State Subregional of the Legends Classic where they will take on Belmont Monday at 3 p.m. CST.

NOTES: USA drops to 4-9 against SEC schools since the 2007-08 season, and 2-3 against its last five ranked opponents… LSU avenged a loss to the Jaguars in their last meeting in 2011-12… MuepoKelly's double-double is the first by a Jaguar this season… Boyanov had led the team in rebounding in each of the first two games, but was held to three boards tonight… His 5-for-7 (71.4%) shooting is the best single-game performance by a USA player this season; he made all three shots in the second half… The Jags, who entered the game tied for third in the league in 3-pointers with 8.5 per contest, were held to seven tonight on 24 attempts… Williams dished out a team-best three assists for the third game in a row.

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—