JONESBORO, Ark. – The University of South Alabama men's basketball team rallied from a 10-point deficit in the second half to take the lead, but missed their next five shots and Arkansas State made three critical free throws in the final 12 seconds to take a 66-65 win over the Jaguars Thursday night at the First National Bank Arena.

USA senior Rodrick Sikes and junior Josh Ajayi accounted for all 10 points in the Jags' rally, culminating in a 3-point play from Sikes with 3:55 left for a 60-59 advantage. The Red Wolves answered on their next possession, getting a layup from Grantham Gillard after two offensive rebounds, then after a Sikes miss, Ty Cockfield made two free throws to go up 63-60.

Neither team scored again until the 12-second mark when Cockfield went 1 for 2 at the line. Arkansas State knocked the ball in their own basket with 4.6 seconds left to trim their lead down to 64-62, but Cockfield made both tries at the line with 3.8 on the clock to ice the game.

Sikes led all players with 24 points – 14 in the first half alone – and Ajayi finished with 15. Cockfield led the Red Wolves with 22.

GAME FACTS
- The largest lead for either team in the first half was four – 29-25 Arkansas State – and a free throw from Ajayi in the final minute gave the Red Wolves a 33-31 advantage at the break
- Arkansas State's largest lead in the first eight minutes of the second half was four until a 10-2 run, thanks to six points from Marquis Eaton and four from Salif Boudie, to go up 57-47 with 7:28 to play
- A-State went cold after that, missing their next six shots, allowing USA to go on a 13-2 run, helped by a triple from Sikes and two 3-point plays from Ajayi and another from Sikes, with the final one putting the Jags up 60-59
- Gillard made his layup at the 3:27 mark and Cockfield added two free throws at 3:12 for a three-point advantage
- The two teams went the next three minutes without a point, combining for three missed shots and two turnovers apiece until a free throw from Cockfield with 12 seconds remaining
- Junior Trhae Mitchell scored all 12 of his points in the second half, and shared team-high honors in rebounds with Ajayi with seven
- Eaton tallied 18 points and Boudie added 10

NOTES
- Arkansas State won the rebounding battle 42-29
- South Alabama forced 16 turnovers and is averaging 17.0 turnovers in its last three games
- The Jaguars fell to 1-6 when trailing at the half and 0-6 when being outshot
- USA had two streaks snapped at six games: scoring at least 79 points and posting a positive assist/turnover ratio; both runs were the longest by the program since 1990-91
- South Alabama's 10 assists are its fewest in seven games
- Sophomore R.J. Kelly was credited with a career-high 5 steals, the most by a Jaguar this season; the team had 11, which is a new season high
- Ajayi extended his double-digit scoring streak to 11, the longest active run on the team
- Mitchell and Ajayi blocked two shots apiece
- Ajayi has 498 career rebounds; he needs six boards to move into a tie for 20th in school history
- Sikes is averaging 28.0 points in two career games vs. Arkansas State
- Cockfield entered the game third in the league in scoring at 20.5 ppg

THEY SAID IT
Head Coach Richie Riley
Opening statement: "We just didn't do enough to win. It's hard to win on the road; it's one of the most difficult things to do in sports, no matter what you're playing, and we didn't do enough to win. It takes some key moments that you have to take advantage of to win on the road and we just didn't make enough plays. We missed a lot of shots that we normally make at home. We shot free throws too poorly to win on the road. You lose a one-point game and you shoot just over 50 percent again and it's disappointing. We didn't get to the free-throw line enough; they had one guy (Cockfield) that had more free throws than our whole team. You're not going to win a lot of games, especially on the road, like that."

On going cold at the end of the game: "I think we got pretty good looks – we got the ball in the paint a couple of times – and got some good looks from '3.' We didn't shoot the ball very well, we didn't attack very well and we have to do a better job of that."

On Mitchell: "It really hurt us that Trhae only played four minutes in the first half; obviously he's a big part of what we do and to not have him for 16 minutes in the first half was tough. With him out there, I think we could have put ourselves in a position to maybe build a lead instead of being down at the half. But he came out in the second half and was aggressive. I think he missed some shots he normally makes around the rim."

On coming up short on the road: "I thought our kids, for the most part, tried pretty hard. There's a reason there hasn't been many road wins; we've got to find a way to win on the road. We've got to do that and it starts with me. We've got to find out how to win these tight ones, especially this one tonight. We needed that.

UP NEXT
South Alabama stays in Arkansas to take on Little Rock Saturday at 3 p.m.

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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