Box Score

NEW ORLEANS – Down 18 in the first half, the University of South Alabama men's basketball team came back to take the lead, but Tulane scored six of the last eight points to win 77-73 Saturday afternoon at Fogelman Arena.

The Jaguars (6-6) used an 18-2 run spanning halftime to pull within two in the early moments of the second half, then scored eight unanswered to go up one with 12:35 left.

The Green Wave's Caleb Daniels converted a three-point play with 28.6 seconds left to break a 71-71 tie, and a Jaguar turnover in the final seconds effectively ended the game.

USA junior Rodrick Sikes scored a game- and career-high 34 points, including 23 in the second half alone. Sophomore Josh Ajayi tallied 17 points.

GAME FACTS
- Tulane (9-3) took an 18-point lead with 2:29 left after a 3-pointer from Daniels, capping off a 12-5 run
- South Alabama scored the next nine points and went into intermission down 44-33
- Senior Nick Davis and Sikes started the second half with three straight 3-pointers to pull the Jaguars with two, but Tulane stretched its lead back out to seven on four points each from Cameron Reynolds and Blake Paul
- The Jaguars responded with eight straight, topped with an alley-oop from Davis at the 12:35 mark for their first lead since 18:41 of the first half
- Sikes and sophomore Herb McGee teamed up for six unanswered points to give USA its biggest lead of the contest, 69-66 with 2:25 to play
- Melvin Frazier hit a '3' with 1: 25 left to put Tulane ahead 71-69, but Ajayi answered on the other end with a putback to tie game at 71-71
- After Daniels' three-point play, Sikes converted twice at the free-throw line to pull the Jags back to 74-73; Reynolds went 1 for 2 at the line with 16.5 seconds left, but the Jags turned it over with six seconds remaining
- The Green Wave had five players reach double-digit points, led by Frazier's 18; Reynolds added 14 points and nine rebounds

NOTES
- Sikes is the first Jaguar to have multiple 30-point games in a season since Augustine Rubit in 2012-13
- Sikes went 10 for 19 from the floor and 6 for 11 from 3-point land
- The Jags went 10 for 27 from distance, marking the second straight game the team had double-digit treys; USA is averaging 9.4 triples in its last five games
- McGee set a new career high with seven rebounds, and dished out a team-best four assists
- South Alabama recorded 11 steals for the second consecutive outing, tying its season high, and sophomore Jordan Andrews was credited with a season-best three

THEY SAID IT
Head Coach Matthew Graves
Opening statement: "I thought we really battled back and had some opportunities late, but it's disappointing that after we talked about playing with a sense of urgency and having a great deal of energy to start the game, the first eight to 10 minutes we were really flat. When you dig yourself an 18-point deficit, you spend a lot of energy coming back. Credit to the guys, they had opportunities, but if we had gotten off to a better start, it might have been a different story at the end."

On what changed in the second half: "We realized that if we played with a sense of urgency and good pace, and have more of an attacking mindset, we can get more things done, both offensively and defensively. We did a better job of being physical in the second half; we committed a few too many fouls there at times, but we were very aggressive defending the ball, and that's what I like. We just have to get better at it and be more consistent."

On Rodrick's performance: "He did a great job in the second half of getting in a rhythm. He picked his spots, found some open shots and our guys did a great job of getting him the basketball. When we're able to get out in transition, we can put some points on the board in a hurry."

UP NEXT
The Jaguars open Sun Belt Conference play Dec. 29 against Georgia State in the Mitchell Center.

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—