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MOBILE, Ala. – After Rice tied the game with 1:02 left, the University of South Alabama men's basketball team outscored the Owls 7-0 in the final minute to win 74-67 Tuesday night at the Mitchell Center.

The Jaguars go into the Christmas break with a 5-6 record after winning their last two games. The Owls have their three-game win streak snapped and fall to 5-7.

"I'm really pleased with how we played tonight, from start to finish," USA head coach Matthew Graves said. "We certainly had a couple of lulls in there, but you look at Georgi [Boyanov], 18 (points) and 12 (rebounds), did his job. He did a tremendous job in finding seams in the defense and getting around and finishing around the basket."

Junior Georgi Boyanov (Lovech, Bulgaria) led the Jags with a career-high 18 points, and recorded his second-straight double-double with a game-best 12 rebounds. He shot 7 for 11 from the floor and dished out three assists.

"Georgi was outstanding," Graves said. "When he has a focus and a mindset to be aggressive and as physical as he can, we know he's not the most physical guy, but to be as physical as he can and play really hard, he's very efficient with his game."

South Alabama never trailed in the second half, but saw a late nine-point lead dwindle down to nothing after Rice's Connor Cashaw completed an old-fashioned three-point play with 1:02 remaining in the contest.

Undeterred, the Jaguars answered on their next trip down the floor on a bucket from junior Tafari Whittingham (Brooklyn, N.Y.) and forced the Owls to miss their last three shots of the game while closing out the contest on a 7-0 run.

"(Handling adversity was) an emphasis coming into the year," Graves stated. "How will you handle adversity? And we've seen it this year where we've not handled it well at times, but the last two games we've a much better job of showing maturity. We're starting to get more comfortable with our rotations and that's on us as a coaching staff. I feel like we're starting to get this bond, coming together. It's going to be nice being away for the holidays to see family and friends. I'm really looking forward to getting back on the 27th and see where we can take this over this next 20 game conference schedule."

After Whittingham's basket, junior Ken Williams (Houston, Texas) hit 1 of 2 at the free-throw line, sophomore Shaq Calhoun (Rome, Ga.) made a pair at the stripe for a 72-67 advantage, and junior Nick Stover (Los Angeles, Calif.) capped it off with a dunk just before the buzzer.

Rice's Marcus Evans led all scorers with 22 points, and added seven rebounds, and three assists and steals apiece. Egor Koulechov tallied 19 with a team-best nine rebounds.

The duo combined for 41 of the team's 67 points as the rest of the team combined to shoot 10 for 31 (32.3%) from the floor. All told, the Owls converted 39.7 percent from the floor and 30.4 percent from 3-point land.

"I thought the defense was really good," Graves noted. "Certainly you're not going to shut them out. They're more built as an offensive team. They're really skilled offensively. (Koulechov) was 2-9 from three. I'll take that every day. Evans is going to be a really nice player for them, but we were able to force him into a late turnover that really hurt them. I just thought we didn't pout and sulk when they did make a three. They made a couple of nice plays and made a run, but we held course, we held serve and then when we needed to break their extended press late, we showed that we were capable of doing that."

Calhoun came off the bench to record 15 points on three 3-pointers in 16 minutes of work, and Stover contributed 12 points, didn't miss a shot in five attempts and tied his career high with five assists and two blocks.

A 9-0 South Alabama run midway through the second half – on two 3-pointers and a three-point play – opened up a 60-51 lead with 6:19 left in the contest, but Rice answered with a 9-2 rally in less than two minutes, and after Whittingham put the Jags up 66-60 with 3:43 remaining, the Owls scored seven of the next eight points, including Cashaw's three-point play for a 67-67 tie.

The Jaguars return to action after Christmas, opening up Sun Belt Conference play Dec. 30 at home against Little Rock.

NOTES: Tonight was Rice's first game in Mobile since Dec. 29, 1975… The series is tied 2-2, with both teams undefeated at home… Williams was held to a season-low three points and failed to convert from behind the 3-point line, keeping him one triple away from fourth place in school history… Boyanov currently leads the Sun Belt in field-goal percentage (59.4%)… USA shot a season-high 53.8 percent from the floor, including 59.3 percent after halftime… The Jags are 5-0 when outshooting their opponent and 0-6 when not… South Alabama's last three opponents are converting 37.2 percent from the floor combined… Junior Don MuepoKelly (Fontana, Calif.) had his 10-game steal streak snapped… The Jaguars also set a new season high with a 46.7 shooting percentage from beyond the arc, thanks to making 4 of 6 after halftime… Calhoun recorded a new personal best with three 3-pointers.

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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