MOBILE, Ala. – Little Rock came back from a 14-point deficit at halftime to defeat the University of South Alabama men's basketball team 62-57 Thursday night at the Mitchell Center.

The Trojans pull even at 15-15 overall and go to 6-11 in the Sun Belt Conference. The Jaguars drop their fourth straight and fall to 13-17 and 6-11.

Little Rock ended the game on a 12-2 run.

"I thought the first half was about as well as we've played all year defensively," USA head coach Matthew Graves said. "We did an outstanding job. We were very active on the close outs and we swarmed to the basketball. Our ball-screen coverage was phenomenal, we were taking and it was a really good half defensively. That allowed us to get out and transition to score some points while forcing 24 turnovers and 30 points. It was a really great effort.

"Unfortunately, we weren't able to be consistent and sustain that in the second half. You have to give (Little Rock) a lot of credit, hitting 7 of 8 from three and they made their free throws, 9 for 9 in the second half. We struggled from the free-throw line, which is frustrating. We just weren't able to close it out."

The Jaguars' final field goal of the night came at the 2:06 mark after a steal and layup from senior Nick Stover (Los Angeles, Calif.) that put USA up 55-50.

The Trojans erased that lead on their next two possessions, getting 3-pointers from Deondre Burns and Lis Shoshi. The triple from Shoshi, coming with 1:04 left, gave Little Rock its first lead of the night at 56-55.

A turnover on South Alabama's next possession led to a layup, and after a 3-point tying attempt was off the mark, two free throws from Kemy Osse capped off the 10-0 run and gave the Trojans a 60-55 advantage.

The Jags went 2 for 4 at the free-throw line in the final 10.5 seconds to cut the margin to three, but Osse hit two more at the stripe with 6.0 seconds on the clock for an unsurmountable lead.

"This year to start off conference play our swing in Georgia, we let the lead slip in both those games," Graves noted. "The Coastal Carolina game here a week-and-a-half ago, and this game tonight, the consistency we need to play at a high level and to be successful, we just don't maintain that. I need to do a better job of demanding that consistency and continue to find the guys that are going to be consistent night-in and night-out."

After shooting 22.2 percent overall and 30.0 percent from 3-point land in the first half, Little Rock converted 73.7 percent from the field and 87.5 percent from distance, and made all nine free throws after halftime.

"I think our intensity let up and we just weren't as active with our ball-screen coverage," Graves said. "I felt like we were playing defense more with our hands than with our feet. We got them to the free-throw line at times. Even when you're guarding and playing really good defense and there's 10 seconds on the shot clock and you make a dumb reach-in foul, the shot clock resets and you have to guard again. We did that a couple times and it really wore on us. They beat us to a couple loose balls late and that was frustrating."

The comeback started early after intermission as the Trojans opened the half on a 12-2 rally, making all four field-goal attempts while forcing misses on four of the Jags' five shots with two turnovers. USA came back with five unanswered for a nine-point lead, but after Burns responded with a triple, South Alabama's largest lead the rest of the way was six.

In the first half, Little Rock didn't make its first shot from the floor until the 10-minute mark and allowed South Alabama to take a 19-4 lead thanks to 10 turnovers and just seven field-goal attempts.

Senior Ken Williams (Houston, Texas) and freshman Josh Ajayi (El Monte, Calif.) shared team-high honors for USA with 14 points each. They each had two assists and steals, and Williams nailed three 3-pointers.

"I think we need to continue to get Josh more shots," Graves said. "He's 4 for 5 (from the field), 6 for 9 from the free throw line so he was obviously fouled and got to the line for us. The one thing I do like that we had 13 assists on 18 field goals. We were moving the ball and sharing the ball."

Burns had 11 of his game-high 16 points after halftime, and shot 6 for 7 from the floor and 4 for 4 from long range. Marcus Johnson Jr. had four treys for 14 points off the bench.

The Jaguars close out the regular season at home Saturday against Arkansas State. Tipoff is scheduled for 3:05 p.m.

NOTES: Little Rock's current four-game win streak over South Alabama is its longest in the series between the two schools… USA's 13 assists on 18 field goals is the team's best ratio since 16 assists on 22 field goals on Jan. 5, 2015 against Little Rock… The Jaguars tied their season high with 24 turnovers forced and 12 steals, and set a new season best with 30 points off turnovers… Little Rock, who entered tonight third in the SBC in fewest turnovers per game, averaged 22.0 in two games against South Alabama this season… Freshman Trhae Mitchell (Austell, Ga.) recorded a pair of blocks, giving him six in the last two games and 10 in his last four; he has vaulted into the league's top 10 in blocks per game (0.9)… Mitchell is 17 for 20 (85.0%) from the floor in his last five games… The Trojans won the rebounding battle 34-18; the minus-16 margin ties the Jaguars' worst of the season… Little Rock won the bench points 26-14, dropping South Alabama to 1-10 when being outscored in that category… Williams' three 3-pointers pull him within two of Derek Turner's school record of 249… Williams tied the school record for career games played with 125… Ajayi moved into the school's top five for points (319) and free throws made (80) by a freshman.

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).

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/sports/2013/3/13/Gridiron%20Club.aspx?id=22

—USA—