MOBILE, Ala. – Senior Rodrick Sikes scored 18 points and graduate Kory Holden hit a key 3-pointer late in the game to lead the University of South Alabama men's basketball team to a 66-57 victory over Florida A&M Saturday night at the Mitchell Center.

FAMU used a 13-6 run late in the second half to pull within 57-54 with 3:59 left after back-to-back layups from D.J. Jones. Holden converted a pair of free throws shortly after and Sikes hit a layup a minute later for a seven-point advantage.

The Rattlers missed an opportunity to get closer, going just 2 for 4 at the stripe, then junior Trhae Mitchell went 1 for 2 at the 1:41 mark before FAMU missed a layup.

Holden game-clinching trey came with 58.3 left in the contest to give the Jags an insurmountable nine-point lead.

GAME FACTS
- The largest lead for either team in the first 16 minutes of the contest was five by the Jaguars on two occasions
- Sikes started a run of seven straight points with a '3', then sophomore R.J. Kelly and Holden added on with two free throws each
- After FAMU opened the second half with a dunk, USA scored eight of the next 10 points to go up 45-35
- Following two free throws from junior Herb McGee at the 8:38 mark, the Rattlers scored five unanswered and 13 of 19 over a stretch of 4:26 to get to 57-54 with 3:59 left
- Holden went 2 for 2 at the line five seconds later to start the game-ending 9-3 run
- Holden finished with 12 points and junior Jordan Andrews added 11
- Junior Josh Ajayi recorded his second double-double of the year with 10 points and a career-high 15 rebounds
- FAMU's Tracy Hector led all scorers with 20 points and grabbed nine rebounds, and Jones contributed 14 points and eight boards

NOTES
- Holden made his first start of the season
- Ajayi's double-double was the 11th of his career
- Kelly set a new career high with four steals and added seven rebounds
- South Alabama won the rebounding battle for the first time in five games, but allowed a season-high-tying 19 offensive rebounds
- Florida A&M shot just 1 for 11 (9.1%) from 3-point land
- Justin Ravenel, the Rattlers' leading scorer at 16.4 ppg entering the contest, went scoreless in nine attempts
- South Alabama's 19 turnovers are its second-most of the season
- The team leading at halftime has won each of USA's first eight games this season

THEY SAID IT
Head Coach Richie Riley
Opening statement: "When I come in here, I try to be as honest as I can be every single time, whether we played great or whether we played badly. I'm really disappointed in how we played. A win is a lot better than a loss, obviously; we all know that. It's a lot better to win than it is to lose, but the way we're playing as a team right now is not going to be good enough to be very good this year. We've got to get better. I told our guys that in the locker room. We have to get better. We had 19 turnovers tonight and 19 offensive rebounds given up. Luckily they didn't make a lot of free throws. We fouled them way too much because we were out of position a lot. It's just a lack of focus. I will commend our kids. They found a way to win and they finished the game off, but that's not who we want to be."

On the team's consistency and focus: "It's the state of our program. It's the state of South Alabama basketball. It's been a long, long time since South Alabama basketball was respected and feared. People didn't want to play against us. It's been a long time. We're going to get back there. We're going to have a team that is feared at the mid-major level, when people come in this arena and it's different. It takes a little bit of time and some changes, but we're going to get it there. FAMU came in here and expected to win the game. Fifteen years ago, they wouldn't have come in here and expected to win the game. They felt like they should have won. That's not who we're going to be. We're not going to be a group that doesn't compete the right way, doesn't focus, and doesn't have passion about the game of basketball. That's not who we're going to be moving forward. Immediately, we have to make some changes in our focus. We have to find a way to come out and play this game with passion, be able to dial into the game plan every single night, and be able to do the things that we need to do to win. Obviously our guys can make layups; we all understand that. We're Division I basketball players, but we missed a lot of them tonight. That's focus. We can box out and go rebound the ball, but we didn't do that. That's focus. We have to do a better job as a group and as a coaching staff with relaying the message to our guys and them retaining the information so that we can get out on the court and do what we're supposed to do. Again, I take the blame as the head coach. However we play, good or bad, it's ultimately a reflection of me. I take the blame for how poorly we played tonight. Just like the win will go on my record, I'll also be up all night struggling with how we played because I know that effort out there is not going to be good enough for us to win a lot of games this season."

On individual performances: "Rodrick was more efficient. He was 7-of-11 and he didn't shoot the ball from '3' great, but 2-of-6 is not bad and he was 2-of-2 from the free throw line. Seven of 11 is a good number for him. I was glad Ajayi was able to rebound the ball. Eleven defensive rebounds is good, and we needed all of them to win the game. Fifteen total rebounds is good. Obviously, he would have liked to have finished around the rim better. He missed a lot of point-blank shots that he has normally made throughout his career. It's not going to show on the stat sheet, but one guy that I felt gave us every bit of effort that he had and tried to do his best to do what we asked him to do was R.J. Kelly. I thought that he gave us a great effort. He was 0 for 3 from the field, had four points all from the free throw line, seven rebounds and four turnovers all in 34 minutes. I hate turnovers more than anything, but he's trying to give consistent effort and he tried to do everything we talked about trying to do going into playing FAMU. I'm proud of him. He's the one guy on our team that I can say came out and tried to do exactly what he was supposed to do."

UP NEXT
South Alabama goes to New Orleans Wednesday for a 7 p.m. start.

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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