MOBILE, Ala. – The Texas-Arlington men's basketball team went on a 16-0 run in the second half and held off a late University of South Alabama charge to win 89-83 Monday afternoon at the Mitchell Center.

The Mavericks win in Mobile for the first time ever and move to 13-5 overall and 3-2 in the Sun Belt Conference. The Jaguars fall to 9-9 and 2-3.

"I thought it was a very hard fought game and that both teams played extremely well offensively," USA head coach Matthew Graves said. "Both teams made big shots. Unfortunately for us, we had a four-to-six minute spell there where we had about five or six turnovers. We kind of panicked and they went on a 16-0 run. When you're playing a team as good as Texas-Arlington, that's a hard thing to overcome. I thought our guys continued to fight and they got back into it. We just game up a couple plays short there in the end."

The 16 unanswered points took just 3:29 on the clock and was helped by six South Alabama turnovers. UT Arlington went 6 for 6 from the floor over that stretch and got eight points from Kaelon Wilson.

"We lost our composure for a short spurt," Graves noted. "Some guys made some plays that were a little out of character and they got sped up a little bit. You have to credit Texas-Arlington, they force you to do some things really fast on the wings and their length and athleticism does speed you up.  We have to understand that we didn't value the basketball in that short stretch. I'm not sure if that exactly cost us the game, I think I can point to other things as well, but certainly that stretch really hurt us."

After five straight points from Kevin Hervey, the final two on a layup with 6:54 left in the game to give the Mavericks a 16-point lead, the Jags scored 15 of the game's next 20 points to pull within six. Junior Shaq Calhoun (Rome, Ga.) sparked the rally, scoring all eight of his points during that span.

Hervey slowed the comeback down with a layup on UTA's next possession, but freshman Josh Ajayi (El Monte, Calif.) hit a layup on USA's next trip down the floor, and later went 1 for 2 at the free-throw line with 34.5 on the clock to pull the Jags within 82-77, but they would get no closer.

After missing four straight free throws in the final minute, the Mavericks made their next six – and 7 of 8 – to close it out.

"We keep talking about wanting to be a championship-level team," Graves said. "The thing we need to understand is that we have to go in and make tough plays. In the second half especially, I thought Texas-Arlington got to more 50/50 balls and killed us on the offensive glass. When you allow a team to live in the paint and get offensive rebounds, it's hard enough to guard the first shot, and to give them 16 extra shots off the offensive glass is a recipe for disaster."

The Jaguars placed five in double-digit scoring – tying their season high – led by Ajayi's 16. Senior Nick Stover (Los Angeles, Calif.) tied his season best with seven rebounds to go along with 10 points, and seniors Ken Williams (Houston, Texas) and Georgi Boyanov (Lovech, Bulgaria) contributed 13 points apiece off the bench.

Senior Don MuepoKelly (Fontana, Calif.) recorded his first double-digit game since Dec. 13 with 12, and junior Dederick Lee (Clarksville, Ark.) set a new career high with seven assists.

"For the most part offensively we played a pretty good game," Graves stated. "Twenty assists on 31 field goals is outstanding. We were sharing the ball. The 16 turnovers is obviously a little too high, but if you take out that segment where we had about seven in five minutes, the turnovers weren't the biggest issue I had."

Hervey led all scorers with 23 points on 7-for-13 shooting, and added seven rebounds, four assists and no turnovers. Jorge Bilbao recorded a double-double with 17 points and 13 rebounds.

"It doesn't take a genius to figure out when you line 10 guys up there and they run up and down the floor, [Hervey] sticks out," Graves said. "He doesn't look like a Sun Belt basketball player. That's why he's a borderline NBA pro. At 6-foot-9, he moves, runs, jumps and shoots with range. He looks different and it's not hard to figure out that he is an outstanding player. He really was the difference tonight."

South Alabama goes on the road for its next two contests, starting Saturday at Little Rock for a 6 p.m. tip.

NOTES: The home team had won each of the first six games between the two schools since Texas-Arlington joined the league at the start of the 2013-14 season… South Alabama is 5-1 all time in Mobile vs. UT Arlington… USA's season-high 20 assists on 31 field goals was its best ratio of the year… Nine of South Alabama's last 11 opponents have shot 50 percent or better in the second half after UT Arlington converted 57.7 percent after halftime… The Jags lost the turnover battle for just the fourth time all year (16-15) and dropped in 1-3 in those games… South Alabama fell to 7-2 when posting a positive assist/turnover ratio and 0-5 when losing the bench points (37-31)… Twelve of USA's 16 turnovers came in the second half… Calhoun posted a team-best two steals and has 12 in his last five outings; he entered the game fifth in the conference with 1.6 per game… Ajayi has scored in double-digits in his last five games, and eight of his last nine, averaging 15.2 points and 7.0 rebounds in that five-game stretch… Williams had scored 20 or more against UT Arlington in each of his last three games, but was held to 13 today… The Jaguars tied their season best in 3-pointers with 11, and set a new season high in attempts with 30... UTA had 38 free-throw attempts – the most by a Jaguar opponent this year – while USA had just 15.

The 2017 Sun Belt Conference Men's and Women's Basketball Championships are scheduled for a week of March Madness in the Big Easy.  New Orleans will once again be home to the two championships that will take place at Lakefront Arena from March 7-12 and ticket books can now be purchased from your school's ticket office.  For more information, visit the Sun Belt Conference's championship central websites - Men's Championship – Women's Championship – and be sure to follow the #FunBelt on social media - @SunBelt.

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—