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MOBILE, Ala. – University of South Alabama sophomore Taishaun Johnson (Indianapolis, Ind.) came off the bench to score 22 points and junior Ken Williams (Houston, Texas) added 20 to lead the men's basketball team to a 98-43 exhibition win over Mobile Thursday night at the Mitchell Center.

The Jaguars shot 50.6 percent from the floor while holding the Rams to 27.4 percent. The season begins in earnest Nov. 13 at home against Auburn-Montgomery.

"I was really excited about the way we played tonight, I thought we got great contributions from all 10 guys who played," USA head coach Matthew Graves said. "When you look at the minutes it was pretty even, different guys rebounded the ball and shot the really ball, and we sustained it for two halves. Tonight we kept the pedal down and we did a really good job, especially on the defensive end of the floor.

"Hopefully more people will continue to come out and watch this team because I think we're only going to get better and better as the year goes on."

Johnson shot 7-for-9 from the floor – 2-for-4 from 3-point land – and made six of his eight free-throw attempts to lead all scorers. Williams went 8-for-19 overall and hit three 3-pointers.

Junior Georgi Boyanov (Lovech, Bulgaria) just missed a double-double with nine points and a game-high 12 rebounds, and junior Don MuepoKelly (Fontana, Calif.) pulled down 10 boards with three blocks. Senior Barrington Stevens III (Allen, Texas) dished out six assists.

Sophomore Shaq Calhoun (Rome, Ga.) was the third Jaguar in double digits with 10 points in 14 minutes of work.

"The future is really bright, we just have to understand and stay the course," Graves said. "Some games these guys aren't going to play as well as others so the minutes might change a little bit, but overall if we play this hard and show this kind of accountability I think we're going to have a really good season."

The Jaguars led from the outset, jumped out to a 12-0 lead and went up 20-5 in the first nine minutes. The defense forced the Rams to miss their first 10 shots of the night and 15 of their first 16 attempts.

Five different players contributed in the 12-0 run to start the contest and seven helped get USA its first 20 points. All 10 players who got in the game found their way on the scoresheet

The final 5:45 of the first half was all South Alabama as the Jags went into intermission up 50-22 after another 20-5 run, with eight coming from Johnson.

"In the first half the only thing that I had a complaint about at halftime was that we gave up 10 offensive rebounds," Graves said.

Defensively, USA forced 22 turnovers – converting them into 31 points – and totaled nine steals. The Rams shot 1-for-12 from 3-point land.

"I thought we were very active, and certainly our length — you have a seven-foot-one guy at the rim — changes the outcome, even when they do get an offensive rebound," Graves said. "We have more guys who to me, for the first time in a while, played hard for 40 minutes. When you have 10 guys, it makes it a little bit easier to do that. We have to continue to do that, and understand that it's an exhibition game; there is a lot of season to go, we need to be ready to play next Friday."

NOTES: South Alabama held a 48-26 advantage in points in the paint, and a 31-2 edge on points off turnovers… Half of the Jaguars' point total came from its bench (49)… The last time two USA players scored 20 points in a regular-season game was Jan. 8, 2011… No Jaguar played more than 28 minutes.

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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