MOBILE, Ala. – The University of South Alabama men's basketball team started the second half on a 21-6 run and cruised to a 71-49 victory against Mobile Monday night at the Mitchell Center.

Sophomore Jordan Andrews paced all scorers with 18 points, and sophomore Josh Ajayi added a double-double with 12 points and 10 rebounds.

After a sluggish first half, the Jaguars went 6 for 8 from the floor with five assists after halftime to open up a 19-point advantage. Mobile closed to within 13 in the last five minutes, but South Alabama ended the game on a 12-3 burst.

GAME FACTS
- The Jaguars opened up a 10-point lead with 6:33 left in the opening half but the Rams scored the next seven points and USA went into intermission up 29-25
- South Alabama scored on its first three possessions of the second half, getting a layup from graduate student Rozelle Nix, a 3-pointer from Ajayi and two free throws from Andrews, to take its largest lead of the game, 36-25
- The Rams got a layup on their next trip down the floor, but the Jags scored 10 of the game's next 12 points, with Andrews contributing eight, to go up 46-29 less than five minutes into the second half
- Mobile went on an 11-2 run over a five-minute span to cut the deficit to 13, getting seven consecutive points from Tyler Williams, and forcing four turnovers
- Nick Davis got a dunk on the Jags' next possession, and scored six of South Alabama's next 10 points to push the lead back up to 20
- South Alabama shot 59.1 percent from the floor in the second half while holding Mobile to 26.7 percent
- Williams, who came off the bench, shared team-high honors in points with JaBarie Escoffery with 12
- Davis tied his career high with 13 points and added six rebounds and a personal-best four blocks
- Rodrick Sikes tallied 12 points in a reserve role and tallied two blocks, while Trhae Mitchell tied his career high of seven rebounds and dished out a career-best six assists

NOTES
- South Alabama wins its home opener for the 26th consecutive season and is 42-8 all-time in home openers
- Monday was just the fourth regular-season meeting between the two Mobile schools, and first since 2011-12 – the Jaguars lead the series 4-0
- Ajayi's double-double was the fourth of his career and first of the season
- The Jaguars blocked 11 shots, which is tied for fifth in school history, and the most since rejecting 12 shots against Louisiana on Jan. 16, 2014 – Davis had four, Sikes, Ajayi and Mitchell had two each, and freshman A.J. Caldwell had one
- Senior Dederick Lee dished out four assists and had just one turnover
- Mitchell's six assists came against one miscue
- Andrews is 14 for 14 from the free-throw line so far this season
- USA committed 22 turnovers, marking the second straight game the team has 20-plus miscues for the first time since December 2015
- Sophomore Kevin Morris did not score, but set a new career-high with six rebounds in 10 minutes of work

THEY SAID IT
Head Coach Matthew Graves
Opening statement: "I'm very pleased to win on our home opener. I thought the first half was obviously not very good. We turned the ball over 13 times. We didn't really get into any kind of flow of offense, and I think it showed out there. It wasn't very fun to watch. Defensively, we held them scoreless for long stretches in the first half. So while our offense wasn't clicking, we weren't allowing them to score on the other end. Which is really an encouraging thing because a lot of times when teams aren't scoring they have a habit of dropping their heads, and they can get worse. We held them scoreless for a while. In the second half, I thought Dederick Lee came in and did a great job of kind of running the team, getting them to spots. I thought the ball really popped and moved, and we certainly made some shots. We were getting the ball side to side and it was just a better flow to the offense."

On being a young team playing together: "We're going to get better. I have no doubt in my mind. We have high-character kids that want to work hard and want to do the right thing. There are just times when they struggle out there. It's frustrating for us all to watch and coach. They get frustrated, but that's part of being a young team. I think John [Pettway] is going to be just fine. Dederick is a fifth-year senior and John is a redshirt freshman in his third or fourth game he has ever played. So he's going to be just fine. It just so happens tonight that Dederick got us going a little bit better."

On improvements from Friday: "I thought we stepped up and made free throws better. I saw more guys take their time, they had a better routine about it. They shot the ball with confidence. Obviously we still need to shoot it better from the free throw line, but we're getting there, which is also encouraging. You get to the free throw line 27 times, that's certainly a good sign. We shared the basketball. I thought Trhae Mitchell had an outstanding all-around game, defensively, passing the ball, rebounding the ball. That's what we need from Trhae, to be that glue guy for us and a stat-sheet stuffer. We talked about Dederick and a 4-to-1 assist-to-turnover ratio is really good as well."

On Andrews' and Ajayi's performances: "Josh gave us a double-double, and that's what we're asking of him night in and night out. I thought he took good shots. I thought he played around the rim. He took a couple of perimeter shots at the right time. I thought Jordan's shot selection was outstanding. He rushed some shots in the Texas Tech game and watched film, and he did a great job of taking and making the right shots. I thought Rodrick [Sikes] and Nick Davis came off the bench and those two guys really gave us a lift as well offensively."

UP NEXT
The Jaguars will start a three-game road trip Thursday at La Salle. Tip-off is scheduled for 6 p.m. CST.

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).

Join the Jaguar Athletic Fund (JAF) Priority Fund, the unrestricted giving option of the University of South Alabama Athletics. Contributions to the Priority Fund directly support all 17 sports in addition to various support programming. For more information on how you can join visit: http://jaguarathleticfund.com/give

—USA—