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MOBILE, Ala. – The University of South Alabama men's basketball team got big scoring nights from sophomore Ken Williams (Houston, Texas) and sophomore Barrington Stevens III (Allen, Texas), and was able to hold off Troy in a 96-93 victory Saturday afternoon at the Mitchell Center.

The Jaguars finish the regular season with back-to-back wins, and an 11-20 overall record and 9-11 mark in the Sun Belt Conference. The Trojans end the 2014-15 season at 10-19 and 5-15.

Troy got 37 points and eight 3-pointers from Musa Abdul-Aleem and 25 points from Wesley Person, but a big run midway through the second half was enough to give the Jags the victory.

"We have to defend better," USA head coach Matthew Graves said. "To his credit, Musa made some very, very difficult shots and got in a rhythm. Wesley Person is one of the two best freshmen in the league. I feel like Taishaun [Johnson] and Wesley are two of the top freshmen in this league. He had an excellent night on us. The thing I'm really proud about is Dionte Ferguson. He came in and was an absolute warrior, played 36 minutes, 19 points, 14 rebounds. His effort and energy… I'm really proud of how he was able to go out on a winning note tonight."

Ferguson (Prattville, Ala.) picked up his team-leading fourth double-double of the season, and had 13 points and seven rebounds in the second half alone. He shot 6-for-8 from the floor and 7-for-8 from the foul line in his final game in the Mitchell Center.

"He was an absolute warrior," Graves said. "I think he played the last seven minutes with four fouls. We just couldn't afford to take him off the floor. He had a toughness mindset about him, and when he had has that focus, he does a tremendous job for us. I can't begin to say enough. Where he came from, from last spring to now, is unbelievable. He made one of the biggest jumps I've ever seen in my coaching career, from one off season to the next. I'm so happy and proud of his hard work and effort."

Williams was one shy of his career high with 28 points—making all nine free-throw attempts—while Stevens set new personal records with 19 points and five 3-pointers. The duo combined for all five USA points in the final 25 seconds.

"I thought Barrington really stepped up and played good to start the game," Graves said. "He took shots that were in his range, in rhythm. When he does that, he's a very good shooter. He's more than capable to step up and make 3s.

"When Ken gets to the free throw line multiple times, he's going to score the ball. He's just too good of a scorer. Getting to the free throw line nine times, that's a good thing when he's in that kind of attack mode."

South Alabama took control with a 19-3 run midway through the second half after facing its largest deficit of the game, and got the final 12 consecutively to go up 83-74. Sophomore Austin Karazsia (Linton, Ind.), who hit two 3-pointers, and Williams combined for 12 of those points as the Jags went 6-for-8 from the floor and 3-for-4 from distance over that span.

Troy scored nine of the next 11 over a 3:20 stretch to close the gap to 85-83 with 3:27 to play, and the two teams were separated by no more than four points the rest of the way.

The Jaguars never relinquished the lead as they answered each Trojan score with one of their own. The two teams put up points on 10 straight possessions, a streak only broken by Troy's miss on a last-ditch attempt at the buzzer.

After a three-point play from Abdul-Aleem with 53 seconds left made the score 91-90, Williams hit a triple to put the Jags up four. Abdul-Aleem answered with a 3-pointer of his own with 6.1 seconds on the clock, but Stevens nailed both free-throw attempts at the 5.0-second mark and Kelton Ford's subsequent attempt was just short.

"I think we have a lot of confidence, and we have a lot of guys that can score the basketball," Graves noted. "Obviously Ken stepped up and made a big '3' at Arkansas State on Thursday, and I like a guy that wants to take that big shot. He's not only taking that big shot, but he's making it. So he's playing with a lot of confidence and doing some really good things. The thing is, we have four or five guys capable of putting a lot of points on the board. We have to find a couple of guys that can really dig in and get some stops because you can't rely on scoring 96 points to win. We'll take it, obviously, and that happens from time to time, but where we want this program to go, our next stop, we have to be stronger, we have to be more physical and we have to learn to get more stops."

South Alabama earned the No. 6 seed in the Sun Belt Tournament and will play Arkansas-Little Rock Thursday night at 7:30 p.m.

NOTES: South Alabama has won eight of the last nine in the series with Troy… Abdul-Aleem's 37 points are second-most in Mitchell Center history and his eight 3s are tied for third… USA is averaging 85.0 points in its nine Sun Belt wins and 62.2 points in 11 SBC losses… Williams moved up to sixth in USA history for career 3-point attempts (382), and seventh in 3-pointers (82) and 3-point attempts (221) in a single season… Williams recorded his 10th game of 20-plus points on the year… Ferguson has 45 blocks this season, tied for 10th-most in school history (Brandon Davis, 2007-08)… The Jags had just four turnovers before halftime, giving them a total of six in the last two first halves; the team had nine in the second half and Troy scored 18 points off those miscues… USA allowed 51 points after halftime, the fourth time an opponent has scored 50 or more in the second half this season… The Jaguars are 4-0 this year when totaling 45 points or more in the first half, and have done it twice in the last two games (45 tonight)… Senior walk-on Jermaine Williams (Saint Stephens, Ala.) got his first career start tonight… Karazsia tied his career high with six points and hit two 3-pointers for the first time… South Alabama set a new season high with a plus-15 rebound margin and converted its 17 offensive rebounds into a season-best 20 second-chance points; the team's offensive rebounding percentage of 50 percent is a season high… The team's 12 triples also were a new season best… USA improved to just 3-17 this year when being outshot by its opponent (1-17 vs. Division I schools)… The Jaguars last scored 90 or more three times in a season in 2010-11, and 89 or more five times in a year in 1994-95… South Alabama has its first losing season at home (6-7) since the arena opened in 1999.

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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