MOBILE, Ala. – University of South Alabama senior Josh Ajayi scored 18 of his game-high 24 points in the first half to lead the men's basketball team to an 89-79 defeat of Alabama A&M Tuesday night at the Mitchell Center.

The Jaguars, who never trailed, jumped on the Bulldogs early, opening up a 22-point lead at halftime and a 30-point bulge early in the second half. Ajayi powered the effort in the first half, shooting 7 for 11 from the floor and 4 for 4 from the line in just 13 minutes of work.

Freshman KK Curry set new career highs with 15 points and six rebounds off the bench. Graduate Chad Lott tallied 17 points and senior Trhae Mitchell added five blocks.

GAME FACTS
- Ajayi accounted for 13 of the team's first 15 points, going 5 for 6 from the floor and making all three free-throw attempts in the first 5 ½ minutes of the game
- A 10-1 Jaguar run, with four points coming from Curry, opened up a 30-14 advantage for the Jags at the 8-minute mark
- Ten more unanswered points, bookended by 3s from seniors Don Coleman and Herb McGee, made it a 47-25 contest late in the half, and a bucket from Coleman gave South Alabama a 49-27 lead at intermission
- Another 10-0 spurt early in the second period put the Jags up 59-29, and two free throws from Curry at the 9:01 mark resulted in a 74-47 advantage
- Curry's free throws preceded a 17-5 Bulldog run to cut the margin down to 15, but Lott and Curry answered with back-to-back buckets to increase their lead back up to 19
- Alabama A&M finished the contest with a 10-2 run as the Jags did not record a field goal in the final 2:38
- AAMU put five players in double-digit points, led by Garrett Hicks' 16; Jalen Johnson and Cameron Alford recorded 13 apiece

NOTES
- South Alabama leads the series 5-0 and has won each game by double digits
- The 30-point lead is USA's largest against a Division I opponent this season
- South Alabama set new season bests with time led (39:33) and points in the paint (58), and tied its season high with 49 first-half points
- USA recorded more points in the first half than the second for just the second time in 2019-20
- The Jags shot 63.6% from the floor in the second half and 58.9% for the game; the overall field-goal percentage is the team's second highest on the year
- AAMU's 52 second-half points are the most by a USA opponent this season
- Senior Andre Fox saw his double-digit scoring streak snapped at nine games after being held to a season-low seven points
- Ajayi's first-half scoring total is the highest by a Jag since Mitchell posted 23 at Louisiana on Jan. 24
- Ajayi grabbed five rebounds to tie Henry Williams for fifth in school history with 695
- Ajayi broke a tie with Demetric Bennett to move into eighth by himself at USA with 1,429 career points
- South Alabama is 4-0 this year when Ajayi scores 20 points or more
- Mitchell is averaging 3.3 blocks in his last four games, with multiple rejections in three of those contests
- McGee set new season highs with eight rebounds and six assists, and posted a new career best with three blocks

THEY SAID IT
Head Coach Richie Riley
Opening statement: I'm always honest when I come into the press conference after the game. There's no question we could've won this game by more, but the most important thing for us tonight was to play well, show the growth we've had in practice, and rest some guys to be at our best come Thursday. I'm proud of how we played when our starters were in the game. Herb McGee had six assists and only two turnovers. Trhae Mitchell had five assists and one turnover, and his speed pushing the ball was great. Josh Ajayi was a monster; if he would've stayed in the game he would've had 40, there's no doubt in my mind. Chad Lott was good in the second half despite the foul trouble early. Andre Fox was much improved, although he didn't put up his average, he did the things we've been focusing on in practice that will make him become a better player. All of our guys played good in the first half. In the second half when we subbed late in the game, it was a debacle. We turned it over, we tried to get too cute and lost our focus. Our young kids need to grow from this and those that don't play as much need to grow so that they can learn to finish the game. However, I'm proud of our starters and our first half. They left their starters in and tried to keep it as close as possible which is fine but our main guys played only twenty minutes which is very positive for us moving forward."

On a competitive Alabama A&M team: "We talked about it and as a staff we studied them on film. They beat Troy and Jacksonville State at home, and then against Miami they were in the mix. They have a scrappy bunch and they have a young group of kids that are going to be good. Once they get into conference play I think they have a chance to have a really good year. They came out, played hard and that's something that they do every game. They got rattled a little bit early on in their season but once their kids settled in to college basketball, they have fought really well."

On heading into conference play: "I'm excited to see where we are at on Thursday. Tonight I was proud of our guys the first thirty minutes because they showed the things we've been working on and I think we have gotten better. Make no mistake about it we have played a tough schedule, according to KenPom the toughest in our league, we've learned some things and been taught valuable lessons by really good teams. If you don't come out ready to play bad things can happen. If you come out ready to play than we have a good team. We need to come out with that mentality Thursday, App State is a good team so we need to be ready. This is what you play for in a one bid league like the Sun Belt you play for conference time. The nonconference is used to get better and win as many as you can. In our program we try to win them all there are no moral victories. There have been high expectations of our team and now we get to see if we can live up to them. We get to start with two really good teams coming into our play this weekend."

UP NEXT
The Jaguars take a day off before opening Sun Belt Conference play Thursday against Appalachian State 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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