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NEW ORLEANS – The University of South Alabama men's basketball team jumped out to a big first-half lead and finished strong to defeat Georgia Southern 67-61 in the first round of the Sun Belt Conference Tournament Thursday night at Lakefront Arena.

The eighth-seeded Jaguars (14-18) move on to the quarterfinals for the ninth time in the last 10 seasons and will face No. 4 seed Louisiana-Lafayette Friday at 5 p.m.

"I was extremely proud of our team defensively in the first half to hold them to 20 percent shooting," USA head coach Matthew Graves said. "That was our best effort of the year by far and going into the game, I thought we would need to play a little more zone but they proved me wrong which was a good thing tonight. We stuck to our man defense and did an excellent job rotating on ball screens.

"We knew that they would make a run in the second half. Coach (Mark) Byington has a great team and does a wonderful job. We kept fighting and answered a lot of their runs."

Sophomore Shaq Calhoun (Rome, Ga.) came off the bench to post a team-high 15 points. Junior Nick Stover (Los Angeles, Calif.) had 14 points and eight rebounds, and junior Ken Williams (Houston, Texas) added 13 points and a team-best five assists.

Senior John Brown (Charlotte, N.C.) had 12 points in a reserve role, going 6 for 6 from the free-throw line. Junior Don MuepoKelly (Fontana, Calif.) pulled down a team-best nine rebounds and added a career-high-tying three steals and two blocks.

"We got contributions from everyone," Graves noted. "I felt like our bench really led us, and I was really proud of our two seniors – John Brown and Barrington Stevens – they stepped up and played like seniors should in a one-and-done situation. I can't say enough about those two guys stepping up for us."

Tookie Brown and Ike Smith had 15 points each for the Eagles. Smith added 10 rebounds for a double-double.

The Jaguars led by as many as 18 in the first half and was up 15 at the break. The Eagles used a 15-4 run to start the second half, with Brown, who had just two points at the break, contributing nine.

Georgia Southern got to three points with 6:54 left, and again two more times but would get no closer. South Alabama made its last six shots from the floor and used an 8-2 run to stretch its lead out to nine.

Senior Barrington Stevens III (Allen, Texas) hit a 3-pointer with 2:01 left and Stover followed with a dunk 21 seconds later for a nine-point advantage, and after a GS triple, Stevens answered with an old-fashioned three-point play to go back up nine.

"The thing I'm really proud of is, they huddled together and – it didn't come from us – they said they're not going to let those guys take the game from us; it's on us," Graves said. "For me to hear that, it just makes me so proud that what we're trying to preach and the culture we want at South Alabama, is coming. I'm really excited."

The Eagles shot 33.3 percent for the contest – 20.0 percent in the first half – and 17.4 percent from the 3-point line. Smith and Tookie Brown's 30 combined points came on 9 for 28 shooting.

"I thought our guys were really in tune defensively," Graves said. "Coach (Darnell) Archey had the scout, and he knew their sets they were going to run and we were really good on our rotations. We have some guys that are long and athletic enough, when we're in tune and can switch and rotate, we're really tough to score on."

On the other end of the floor, the Jaguars converted 36.9 percent of their shots, but only 16.7 percent from distance.

NOTES: South Alabama has swept all three meetings with an opponent for the second straight year (Little Rock in 2014-15)… The Jags won the rebounding battle 44-40 and outrebounded the Eagles by an average of six in their three games this season… USA's top three lead times against Division I opponents this season are all against Georgia Southern; the Jags' led for 37:22, the second-largest vs. a DI school in 2015-16… The 18-point lead is tied for the second-largest against a Division I opponent… USA has led at halftime five times against Sun Belt schools – going 4-1 in those games – and three of them were against GS… Georgia Southern's 20.0 percent shooting in the first half is a season low by a USA opponent; the previous low of 25.8 percent was also set by the Eagles, and their 21 points ties the fewest points before halftime this season… Junior Georgi Boyanov (Lovech, Bulgaria) was held scoreless on two shots for just the second time this season; he has been held to single-digits in his last four games and six of his last seven… In the first half vs. South Alabama this season, the Eagles shot just 27.4 percent from the floor and 21.1 percent from 3-point land; Tookie Brown averaged just 2.7 points before halftime in three games… John Brown tied his career high with three assists, and sophomore Nick Davis (Mt. Vernon, Ala.) set a new personal best with three blocks…

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—