DENVER – Trailing by as many as 24 midway through the second half, the University of South Alabama men's basketball team got within nine in the late stages but could not get any closer in a 69-56 road loss to Denver Saturday afternoon at Magness Arena.
The Pioneers extend their five-game win streak to move to 5-1 on the year, while the Jaguars fall to 2-4.
"I thought we came out very slow and tentative," USA head coach Matthew Graves said. "Denver runs a unique Princeton offense and they play a matchup zone and it gave us problems. We were down 34-20 at the half.
"In the second half, we came out and got a few stops but we weren't able to capitalize and that was the theme throughout the night. We probably had four or five missed layups or dunks in the first half, and you can't do that against a team that limits the number of possessions because of their pace of play on the offensive end of the floor."
DU shot at least 55 percent in each half and 56.8 percent for the contest. USA converted just 29.2 percent before halftime and 39.1 percent overall.
Down 55-31 with 8:12 remaining, South Alabama scored 12 of the next 14 points over a 2:21 stretch to make it a 57-43 contest. Denver scored four in a row, but the Jags responded with an 11-2 run, capped off with a 3-pointer from sophomore Shaq Calhoun (Rome, Ga.).
The final seven points in the run came unanswered, with four from freshman Nikola Marijan (Backi Brestovac, Serbia) and three from Calhoun.
"We did some good things with that group at the end," Graves said. "Guys were pressing and making some good effort plays, but even when we got in to that, we still were not converting at the rate we needed to beat a team on their home floor."
Calhoun's triple would be as close as the Jaguars would get as the Pioneers would go 4 for 4 at the line in the next 14 seconds sandwiched around a USA miss. Junior Ken Williams (Houston, Texas) hit a layup with 31 seconds remaining but Denver's Marcus Byrd answered back immediately for the final points of the contest.
Denver used two big runs in each half to take control. A 21-5 spurt over an eight-minute stretch in the first half staked DU to a 31-16 lead with 2:30 left before intermission.
Midway through the second half, Denver went on a 14-2 outburst, helped by a USA shooting slump that saw the Jaguars make just one field goal in six minutes.
"It goes back to an issue we knew we were going to have at the start of the season: when things go poorly, or we hit some adversity, how are we going to respond to that?" Graves said. "Are we going to huddle together or are we going to splinter? I felt like we started to splinter a little bit because we weren't making shots on the offensive end and it really affected how we defended. We have to get past that, because there are going to be games where we just don't make shots and we'll need our defense to keep us in the game until we make shots. Tonight we failed miserably in that category."
The Pioneers put four players in double-figure points, led by Byrd and Bryant Rucker who had 16 each. Rucker had 14 in the first half and a game-high eight assists, and Byrd posted 12 after the break. Nate Engesser came off the bench to post 15 points and Joe Rosga added 10.
Williams paced the Jaguars with 12 points and three assists. Calhoun recorded 11 points and a career-best three steals.
South Alabama closes out the month of November with a clash against city rival Spring Hill Monday night at 7:05 p.m.
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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