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MOBILE, Ala. – Texas State jumped out to a 16-4 lead and led for all but nine seconds in a 63-43 win over the University of South Alabama men's basketball team Wednesday night at the Mitchell Center.

The Bobcats snap a five-game losing streak and go to 11-10 overall and 5-7 in the Sun Belt Conference; the Jaguars are 7-16 and 5-7.

"Obviously I'm extremely disappointed in how we played tonight," USA head coach Matthew Graves said. "We talked about it for a couple of days and in the pregame; it was the formula they used last time. They were very physical, they closed off driving lanes and they kept us out of transition. You have to give Texas State a lot of credit. They really were physical and attacked us. We turned the ball over 10 times in the first half and gave up seven offensive rebounds. They clearly set a tone and were the more physical team."

The Jaguars shot 30.8 percent from the floor, including 26.9 percent in the first half, and attempted just 12 free throws.

Sophomore Ken Williams (Houston, Texas) scored all nine of his points in the second half, and freshman Taishaun Johnson (Indianapolis, Ind.) totaled eight. Freshman Abdul Lewis (Newark, N.J.) and sophomore Georgi Boyanov (Lovech, Bulgaria) grabbed six rebounds each.

Ethan Montalvo paced the Bobcats with 15 points on four 3-pointers. JaMarcus Weatherspoon came off the bench to pour in 12 points, and D.J. Brown dished out a game-high six assists.

USA started 0-for-9 from the floor and went scoreless for the first six-plus minutes to fall behind 7-0. The Jags scored the next four points, but turned the ball over on four of their next five possessions to allow Texas State to put up nine unanswered for a 16-4 advantage.

"In the last two games we really shot ourselves in the foot and dug ourselves a hole," Graves said. "I don't know that it is necessarily the start. At the first media timeout tonight it was 4-0. I'm OK with that. We took some shots that went in-and-out, but we were still guarding and defending. The longer that went, we just got more and more frustrated and the lead started to separate. We really started to take some quick, bad shots there during that stretch and they kept getting inside and driving the ball."

After an 8-3 Texas State run to start the second half, South Alabama reeled off a quick seven points—five from Williams—but the Bobcats answered with an 11-3 spurt of their own for their biggest lead of the night (55-31). Four different TXST players contributed points, led by Weatherspoon's five.

"I thought our team gave some very good effort, particularly on the defensive end," Texas State head coach Danny Kaspar said. "We made some offensive mistakes—we made some self-inflicted offensive mistakes—but after five straight losses we are very happy to get a victory. All of our losses have been very close, so having a win like this is something for us to truly celebrate.

"I just really think that our defense was the key to the victory. We held them to a very low shooting percentage and we didn't give them too many second shots, so I really believe that our players gave great effort on defense and that was the main reason we got the victory tonight."

The Bobcats converted 44.2 percent overall and went 8-for-18 (44.4%) from 3-point land.

"They really got it rolling and the Montalvo kid made four of them," Graves said. "He made three last time. We talked about being physical and trailing screens hard. I know on two of them he made, we tried to go under the screen. So again, it's knowing personnel and scouting and having that attention to detail that was really lacking tonight. It was certainly frustrating."

The Jaguars return to action on Saturday when they host Georgia State at 4:05 p.m.

NOTES: South Alabama's 43 points is a new season low—the fewest by the program since 2011-12—and the team has scored 61 points or fewer in four of its last five outings… The Jaguars were held without a double-digit scorer for the second time this season (at Richmond)… Sophomore Barrington Stevens III (Allen, Texas) has 12 assists and no turnovers in his last three games… The Jags have scored 18 points in each of their last two first halves… Texas State had 18 turnovers, but South Alabama only converted them into eight points; the Bobcats had 23 points off 15 Jaguar miscues… South Alabama is 1-9 (0-3 SBC) when making 14 or fewer free throws… TXST won the battle of the boards 39-31.

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—