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MOBILE, Ala. – In a game with 22 lead changes and 19 ties, it was the University of South Alabama men's basketball team that came out on top when the final buzzer sounded thanks to a late 3-pointer from junior Nick Stover (Los Angeles, Calif.) in a 79-78 overtime victory over Georgia State Thursday night at the Mitchell Center.

The Jaguars end a six-game losing streak to the Panthers to improve to 10-14 overall and 5-8 in the Sun Belt Conference. GSU loses for the fifth time in six games to fall to 13-9, 6-7.

Stover's triple came with 15.4 seconds left in the extra frame after the two teams traded the lead on seven straight trips down the floor. The Jaguar defense forced three misses in the final six seconds, including a big block from junior Tafari Whittingham (Brooklyn, N.Y.) to preserve the win.

"I thought it was an outstanding college basketball game, the fans in attendance were treated to a really well-played basketball game that had a lot of runs on both sides," USA head coach Matthew Graves said. "It was very fluid offensively with guys making big shots. We're obviously really pleased to be coming out on the winning side of this overtime game.

"I can't say enough about our guys and the way they competed and fought. We had struggled against Georgia State in the past — especially against their zone — but did a really good job finding the middle of the zone to be able to attack and score. Nineteen turnovers is not great, but I thought we took better shots tonight and that's a step in the right direction."

Junior Georgi Boyanov (Lovech, Bulgaria) hit a pair of free throws with two minutes left in overtime to put the Jags up 71-69, but Isaiah Williams nailed the first of three straight triples for GSU at the 1:46 mark to go back ahead 72-71.

USA senior Barrington Stevens III (Allen, Texas) answered on the other end with a floater high off the glass for a 73-72 advantage, but Jeff Thomas hit from deep with 52.1 seconds left for a 75-73 lead. Fifteen seconds later, junior Ken Williams (Houston, Texas) converted an old-fashioned three-point play; however, it didn't last long as Isaiah Williams gave the Panthers their final lead of the game, 78-76, with 25.0 on the clock.

Stover scored his 14th point of the game 10 seconds later on a dish from Ken Williams, setting up the final frenetic seconds.

"I thought Isaiah Williams stepped up for them and made two huge shots, and they made three in a row. You have give and take and live with a little bit, and to his credit he stepped up and made big shots. Late in the game we felt like they were going to key on Juice [Ken Williams] off the ball screen and we were able to run Stover from baseline to baseline. I think they lost him a little bit, and at his size he's able to raise up and shoot over the top of their wing players. Then we had the poise to get back, set our defense and Tafari made an outstanding block, then we hung on there in that last five seconds that felt like four hours."

Georgia State led for the first 11 minutes of the second half and took a 55-45 lead – its largest of the game – after a 7-0 run. South Alabama responded with 10 unanswered to tie the game and stretched the run to 15-3 after a triple and two free throws from Williams with 6:51 to play.

"Part of it is they are starting to learn through some of our experiences that we've had in previous games where we haven't scored the ball but our zone defense has been very active," Graves said of the team's comeback. "They weren't scoring that much either; during that stretch we could have easily gotten 10, 12, 14 points down like we've done in the past, and we've learned not to hang our head and stay focused. We eventually made a few shots and we kept it in check; that's really the growth of this team and their willingness to stay the course and play each possession. That's the mindset we're trying to get them [to understand], not to watch the scoreboard but to play the possession at hand, and they are starting to learn that better."

The teams were separated by no more than two points in the final 7:32 of regulation and neither converted from the floor in the last 4:47. Kevin Ware had chance to give GSU the lead at the line with 11.3 seconds left, but only hit 1 of 2, and USA turned the ball over with 1.0 second on the clock prior to overtime.

Ken Williams led all scorers with a season-high 27 points – the most for any Jaguar this season – and moved into a tie for third place at South Alabama for career 3-pointers with Chris Young (2002-04) with 188. Williams went 8 for 13 from the floor and 4 for 6 from distance.

"We are asking him to do a lot — handle the ball, score the ball for us — and I thought tonight he showed a lot of maturity in his shot selection," Graves said. "I can only think of one or two shots that I would really like for him to pull back, and when your best scorer only takes one or two bad shots, you live with that. Two times in transition I had to tell him that sometimes he needs to abort even though he wants to go and make a play; he got overanxious and turned it over. It's a learning experience for him and another way he can grow in his game. But he was outstanding tonight."

Stover scored eight of his 14 at the free-throw line, Boyanov had 11 points and a team-high eight rebounds, and Whittingham added 10 points.

Jeremy Hollowell paced Georgia State with 22 points and 11 boards. Ware had 15 points and seven assists, and T.J. Shipes and Williams had 12 points apiece.

South Alabama continues its three-game homestand Saturday against Georgia Southern at 4:05 p.m.

NOTES: USA's six-game losing streak in the series was tied for its longest active skid against a Sun Belt school (Louisiana-Monroe)… South Alabama is 3-1 (2-1 SBC) this season in games decided in overtime… The Jags were outrebounded 36-34; the Panthers entered the game as the worst rebounding team in the conference (-4.5)… Williams has five 20-point performances this season; the team is 4-1 (3-1 SBC) when he reaches the 20-point plateau… He moved into 12th place on USA career scoring list (1,141)… Stover's eight free throws and 10 attempts are both new career highs… Williams needs 20 more 3-pointers to tie Demetric Bennett (2005-08) for second place in school history… USA's 28 free throws made are a new season high and the team hit better than 75 percent of its attempts (min 10 FTA) for just the third time all season… The Jaguars are 9-2 (4-2 SBC) when outshooting their opponent and improved to 4-12 (2-7 SBC) when trailing with five minutes left in regulation and 3-12 (3-8 SBC) when trailing at halftime… Whittingham reached double-digit points for the first time since Dec. 18 at Samford and the third time in 2015-16.

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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