LITTLE ROCK, Ark. – Little Rock scored 18 unanswered points late in the first half and went on to defeat the University of South Alabama men's basketball team 91-62 Saturday afternoon at the Jack Stephens Center.

Deondre Burns scored 22 points off the bench for the Trojans (7-10, 2-2 Sun Belt) to lead a group of four in double-digit points. He had seven in the 18-0 run and finished 7 for 9 from the floor and 3 for 4 from 3-point land.

Little Rock made all six field-goal attempts during the scoring burst and forced South Alabama (9-8, 2-2) into five turnovers and four missed shots.

Junior Trhae Mitchell had a team-high 22 points and 6 rebounds for the Jags, who shot 31.3 percent from the floor in the second half after converting 52.2 percent in the first.

GAME FACTS
- Little Rock never trailed and jumped out to an 8-0 lead after 2 ½ minutes
- Senior Rodrick Sikes scored five of South Alabama's next seven points in a 7-2 run to get the Jaguars back to a 10-7 scoreline
- The Trojans went on a 9-2 rally to take their first double-digit lead of the game at 30-19 with 8:02 to play in the first half
- After a 3-pointer from graduate Kory Holden pulled the Jaguars within 34-27, a free throw from Kris Bankston started the run of 18 consecutive points
- Burns scored the next seven points himself on two free throws, a short jumper and a 3-pointer to put the Trojans up 44-27
- Nikola Maric followed with a 3-point play, and Jaizec Lottie and Kamani Johnson capped off the run with a triple and a dunk, respectively
- USA got as close as 17 in the early going of the second half, but an 8-2 answer by LR put the lead back up to 23 and the Jaguars got no closer than 20 the rest of the way
- Holden and junior Josh Ajayi finished with 14 points each

NOTES
- Ajayi grabbed three rebounds to give him 501 for his career
- Rayjon Tucker, who entered Saturday as the conference's second-leading scorer at 21.1 points per game, was held to 6 on 1-for-4 shooting
- South Alabama forced 17 turnovers, matching their average in the last three games, but had just three steals; the team was averaging a conference-best 9.0 steals in league games coming into the contest
- Mitchell hit the 20-point mark for the fourth time this season
- The Jaguars fell to 1-7 when trailing at the half and 0-7 when being outshot
- Ajayi extended his double-digit scoring streak to 12, the longest active run on the team
- South Alabama has lost by an average of 25.7 points in their last three trips to Little Rock; The Jags are 2-5 in their last seven road games in the series with four losses by 17 points or more

THEY SAID IT
Head Coach Richie Riley
Opening statement: "We got beat in every facet of the game; I think it's obvious with the final score. It started early on. We got into some foul trouble and had guys playing more minutes than they were used to playing. We just didn't compete at a level you have to compete at to win on the road. Little Rock came out ready to go. They were a lot more excited to play than we were and that can't be the case if you're going to go on the road and beat anybody. My hat goes off to them; they outplayed us, out-toughed us and we didn't respond well, which is troubling. That's kind of what it's been on the road and as the head coach, I've got to correct that."

On Little Rock being able to get to the rim: "We didn't guard the ball very well. We didn't defend in the post very well – they threw it inside when they wanted to, whether we were in zone or man – and we didn't guard the ball. They drove and played with two feet in the paint all night. We got into foul trouble early – I think that bothered us a little bit – but they beat us. There were a lot of man-on-man matchups and we got whipped. We've got to get better. It's my job to get us better. We've got a long way to go with this group right here, and it's frustrating to me to be four games into league play and feel like that."

UP NEXT
South Alabama returns home next week to host Georgia State on Thursday at 7 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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