Box Score (html)
Box Score (pdf)

MOBILE, Ala. – Junior Ken Williams (Houston, Texas) shared game-high honors with 25 points and the University of South Alabama men's basketball team exploded for 57 points in the second half in an 83-70 win over Louisiana-Lafayette Saturday afternoon at the Mitchell Center.

The Jaguars win for the fourth time in six games and move to 13-16 overall and 8-10 in the Sun Belt Conference. The Ragin' Cajuns lose for the fourth time in their last five outings and fall to 15-12 and 11-7.

"I'm extremely excited, especially for our three seniors, that they had a chance to win their final home game in the Mitchell Center; that's certainly going to be something they are going to remember forever," USA head coach Matthew Graves said. "In coaching, if you can always have your seniors win their final home game I think that really leaves a good taste in their mouth.

"It's been an up-and-down year for us, and to play well and win this game hopefully gives the fans and people around excitement as we continue to move forward and build this program into something special."

South Alabama shot a season-best 66.7 percent (22-33) from the floor in the second half, including 75.0 percent (6-8) from 3-point land. The 57 points are a new season high.

"We started to move the basketball — we realized that you can actually score more points when you make more passes," Graves said. "It's taken a while for our guys [to learn that], we want to attack off the first pass and force a shot. If we're patient and make several passes and move the basketball, our shot selection in the second half was as good as it has been all year. I think it shows not only in shooting 67 percent but the number of assists we had in the second half; we had 15 total, I'm guessing that 11 or 12 were in the second half.

"The ball movement was really good, and it was really fun to watch."

Williams had 16 points in the second half alone, shooting 6 for 8 from the floor and 3 for 3 from beyond the arc. He also dished out five assists and recorded two steals.

Senior Barrington Stevens III (Allen, Texas) tallied a career-high-tying seven assists with just one turnover to go along with his nine points.

"Ken played a really good floor game," Graves noted. "We put the ball in his hands and he made some great plays, especially early in the second half. I thought Barrington came in and gave him a break, and then went on a three- or four-minute stretch where he made really good plays off ball screens, especially when he dumped it down to Don (MuepoKelly) a couple of times. That was really heady, smart play from our senior point guard."

UL Lafayette led by six at halftime, but it was a 20-3 South Alabama run midway through the second half that enabled the Jaguars to run away with it. The team hit eight of its 10 attempts over the five-minute stretch, including both attempts from distance, and forced ULL to shoot 1 for 8.

Sophomore Shaq Calhoun (Rome, Ga.) and junior Don MuepoKelly (Fontana, Calif.) combined for 15 of those points during the run on 6-for-6 shooting, with Calhoun pouring in nine.

Calhoun scored the final four points, the last bucket coming with 7:40 to play to put USA up 60-45.

"You could feel the energy in the crowd," Graves stated. "We were getting stops defensively. The frustrating part in the first half was that we stopped them on seven out of eight possessions and only scored one point while we were doing that, and that was on the technical free-throw shot. If we learn to capitalize on our defensive stops, we might have been up six instead of down six at the half. In the second half we were able to get stops and then put that together with scoring the basketball."

The Jaguars led by no fewer than 10 points the rest of the way.

Junior Nick Stover (Los Angeles, Calif.) came off the bench to post 13 points on a pair of 3-pointers, and Calhoun recorded 11 points. MuepoKelly blocked four shots, the most by a USA player this season.

ULL's Shawn Long posted 25 points and 13 rebounds for his sixth career double-double against South Alabama. Bryce Washington just missed a double-double with 14 points and nine rebounds.

The Jaguars close out the final week of the regular season on the road, starting Thursday at Texas-Arlington.

NOTES: South Alabama has a four-game home win streak in the series for the first time; the Jags have won seven of the last nine meetings between the two schools… Williams is averaging 21.3 points vs. UL Lafayette in his career… USA is holding its last four opponents to 22.2 percent from 3-point land… The Cajuns' 13.3 percent 3-point shooting is the second lowest by an opponent this season… Williams is averaging 20.2 points in his last six games, with three games of 25 or more… South Alabama is 6-1 (5-1 SBC) when Williams scores 20 points or more, 12-2 when outshooting its opponent, and 11-3 when scoring 70 or more… The Jaguars tied their season high with nine blocks and recorded their most assists in a Sun Belt game with 15… UL Lafayette barely edged out the rebounding battle 40-39, but had 16 offensive boards, and won second-chance points 18-9… USA's 83 points are its most in regulation against a Sun Belt opponent this season... The Jaguar bench put up 35 points to the Cajuns' 12.

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—