MOBILE, Ala. – University of South Alabama junior Josh Ajayi had 23 points and 12 rebounds and the Jaguars used a 25-9 run at the end of the first half to defeat Chattanooga 73-54 Friday night at the Mitchell Center.

Ajayi nearly had a double-double in the second half alone with 15 points and nine boards, and scored 10 points (in 18 attempts) from the free-throw line.

The Jags (2-1) fell behind 8-2 early but rallied to tie the game at 13-13, then scored 25 points in the last 8 ½ minutes to open up a 15-point advantage at the break. USA went 7 for 11 from the floor and 4 for 5 from distance over that stretch while holding the Mocs (2-2) to just 2-for-10 shooting.

Chattanooga outscored South Alabama 20-10 over an 8 ½ minute span in the second half to get as close as 60-48 but the Jaguars answered with six straight points and 9 of the next 11 to put the game away.

GAME FACTS
- After trailing 8-2 five minutes into the contest, five players contributed to a 10-1 run that gave the Jags a 12-9 lead
- South Alabama exploded for nine unanswered over a 2:08 span to go up 21-13 with 6:18 left in the first half
- Ajayi and juniors Jordan Andrews and Herb McGee combined for a 14-3 burst, capped off with a dunk from Ajayi for a 37-22 lead at intermission
- A triple from junior Trhae Mitchell at the 16:19 mark gave the Jaguars their biggest lead of the contest, 50-28
- USA cooled off after that, going 5:44 without a field goal, allowing UTC to score 10 of the next 11 points and close within 51-38 with 10:55 on the clock
- A triple from the Mocs' Maurice Commander with 8:28 to play made it a 58-46 game, but Ajayi and McGee scored six straight points and Chattanooga went almost six minutes without a field goal and got no closer than 15 the rest of the way
- McGee finished with 16 points and a career-high eight rebounds, and Mitchell added 10 points and two steals
- Junior Abdul Dial pulled down a personal-best nine boards
- Kevin Easley led the Mocs with 19 points

NOTES
- Chattanooga shot 25.0 percent from the floor in the first half and 29.8 percent for the game; the 29.8 percent is the lowest by a Division I opponent since Nov. 19, 2017 against Saint Peter's (28.1%)
- Ajayi's double-double was his first of the season and 10th of his career
- Ajayi has scored at least 20 points in each of his last three double-doubles and five times total in his career
- Senior Rodrick Sikes was held to eight points on 2-for-10 shooting; he has scored in single digits in back-to-back games for the first time in 35 career games at South Alabama
- UTC went 1 for 16 (6.3%) from 3-point land; the last Division I opponent to shoot less than 10 percent from 3-point land was Texas State on March 6, 2014
- South Alabama won the rebounding battle 46-39 and had a season-high 15 offensive rebounds

THEY SAID IT
Head Coach Richie Riley
Opening statement: "I say this a lot, but I was really proud of the moments that we had. From the 12-minute mark of the first half to halftime, that's what we want to be about: that toughness level, ability to execute, and play through some mistakes. We came out for the first eight minutes and I called timeout early to try to get us going. Our focus wasn't where it needed to be and it showed; we got down 8-2. But I'm proud of what we were able to do in the last 12 minutes of the half. We built a lead of 15 and we came out the second half being about the right things. I felt like our flow got disrupted a little bit because there were a lot of quick fouls and touch fouls, but then we gathered ourselves and extended the lead. That's what we've got to be about. If we can ever get to where we can put 40 minutes together as this team, we're going to be pretty good. We're not there yet. We're a work in progress, but we are trending upwards and we need to continue to do that."

On the defensive effort: "Our activity defensively was good. Coach Amorrow (Morgan) had the scout. He did a great job preparing our guys and our guys did a great job locking into the details. We had a lapse in the second half where they scored on six straight possessions, and without that I think we would've held them to an incredible percentage. I like our team defensively. We need to do a good job and put ourselves in situations where we get to guard in the half-court more. We can't have pick-sixes or give them easy transition baskets. When we guard in the half-court in 5-on-5 scenarios, we're a pretty good defensive team."

On Josh Ajayi: "Ajayi is a really good player. When he's locked in, he's a really good player. I don't know what he was from the free-throw line, but it wasn't good. He still had 23 points and 12 rebounds. He's tough to guard. When he decides he wants to play off two feet and get those two feet in the paint and play vertically, he's really hard to guard. The dunk that he had in the first half was incredible. We have to limit his turnovers. He's got four turnovers. That was something we're still trying to address; last year his assist/turnover ratio was not good. When one of your leading scorers has an assist/turnover ratio like that, it makes it hard to win sometimes. He's making strides in that area. I was proud of him because he handled adversity. I'll say this about our whole team: that's the main gripe that I have with our team the majority of the time. We are not resilient and we don't handle adversity very well. Tonight they did. They handled adversity very well. We've got to continue to do that as a whole."

UP NEXT
South Alabama continues the Goldie and Herman Ungar Classic Saturday night at 7 p.m. against Jacksonville.

For more information about South Alabama athletics, check back with www.usajaguars.com, and follow the Jaguars at www.twitter.com/WeAreSouth_JAGS. Season tickets for all Jaguar athletic events can be purchased by calling (251) 461-1USA (1872).

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—USA—