MOBILE, Ala. – The University of South Alabama men's basketball team shot 69.6 percent and made 8 of 9 from 3-point land in the second half to come back from a 12-point deficit at halftime to defeat Troy 81-75 Saturday night at the Mitchell Center.

Five Jaguars reached double-digit points, led by junior Trhae Mitchell's 17 points – 14 in the second half – and five assists. Junior Josh Ajayi recorded his ninth double-double with 16 points and 10 rebounds.

The Jaguars scored the first nine points of the second half and went on a 16-4 run, capped off with a steal and dunk from sophomore John Pettway to tie the contest at 46-46 just six minutes in.

South Alabama finally took the lead at 69-68 on a 3-pointer from graduate Kory Holden and finished the contest on a 12-5 run, going 4 for 5 from the field and 4 for 6 from the free-throw line.

GAME FACTS
- South Alabama jumped out to a 10-2 lead but Troy responded with an 18-6 burst to go up 20-16 midway through the first period
- The Trojans took a 29-23 advantage with 5:35 left, then closed out the half on an 11-1 rally to go into intermission with a 42-30 lead
- Troy missed their first five shots of the second half and went 1 for 7 with three turnovers while South Alabama converted 4 of 5 and all three 3-point attempts to knot the score at 46-46
- The Trojans scored 11 of the next 16 points for a 57-51 lead
- USA made three consecutive triples – the last coming from Ajayi – to even it up at 62-62 with seven minutes to play, and Holden's trey with 4:08 left gave the Jags their first lead since the 10:41 mark of the first half
- Alex Hicks answered with a jumper on the other end to temporarily put the Trojans back on top but a layup from Pettway gave the Jags the lead for good with 3:21 to play to start a 10-2 run and put the game away
- Pettway (6-11 on FGs) and Holden (4-5 on 3s) finished with 14 points each and senior Rodrick Sikes added 12

NOTES
- The win gives South Alabama a 200-93 all-time record in the Mitchell Center
- The announced crowd of 4,469 was the largest in the building since 5,431 showed up against Florida International on Jan. 22, 2011
- Ajayi is second in the conference with nine double-doubles, one behind JaKeenan Gant of Louisiana
- USA ended a three-game losing streak to Troy, the Trojans longest in the series
- South Alabama had its run of 13 games with at least one 20-point scorer snapped; the team has had at least one in 19 of 22 games this season
- Troy's 63.0 shooting percentage in the first half is tied for the second-most by an opponent this season
- South Alabama's 69.6 shooting percentage in the second half is a new season high and the best after halftime since converting 72.2 percent against Presbyterian on Feb. 25, 2008
- The Jaguars' 70.6 3-point percentage (min. 10 made) is the second-highest in school history (71.4% vs. La Tech, Jan. 24, 1998)
- Pettway and Sikes recorded three steals each, and Ajayi and Mitchell blocked two shots apiece; Mitchell moved past Brandon Davis into fourth place all-time at South Alabama (115)
- Ajayi's six offensive rebounds tie the most by a Jaguar this season

THEY SAID IT
Head Coach Richie Riley
Opening statement: "Our crew has grown so much this season as far as being able to bounce back and have resiliency.  Earlier in the season when we were down 12 at halftime and things weren't going well, we probably would've got run out of the gym.  At halftime I got into the guys pretty good, and they responded like I've never seen.  That second half of basketball was the best we've played all season.  Just the look in our guys' eyes made me feel comfortable as the head coach; I can't say that's been the case all season long, but lately it has.  They gave me a look that they were not going to let us lose.  All five guys who were on the court at all times in the second half, I really felt like they were going to find a way to make enough plays and do enough winning things so we would win the game."

On the crowd: "What about the crowd?  It was phenomenal, it was special to me.  For our guys to be able to play in front of that many people, and for them to help us win the game is incredible.  The support was unbelievable.  We've had our hard times and we may have a few more — I get it — but come be part of it.  We'll always have a product where we will play hard, with passion and with energy; we're going to do everything we can to win.  Everybody thinks I'm crazy when I saw we're going to take the tarps off the place one day, but that's what I want.  We can do that here in Mobile at South Alabama.  The atmosphere today was incredible; we don't win that game without everyone."

On the difference in winning the last two games: "It's those small things.  During that stretch I told our guys what's holding us back was that we were playing well enough to win but we were not getting those 50-50 loose balls, we were giving up a timely offensive rebound, we were caving defensively late in the shot clock, and they were happening at bad times when we had to have it.  That's what was separating us from winning – those four losses by one, two, three and four points.  Now our guys see the urgency of that for 40 minutes.  Our guys were on the floor tonight more than they have been all year, we had extra effort blocked shots, we had a bunch of steals and they were at key times.  Troy is good, [Jarvis] Varnado is a pro to me — he's going to play for a lot of money one day — and Coach [Phil] Cunningham does a tremendous job, so to be able to come back and win a game down 12 against a team like that is really, really good for our team."

On the team's second-half shooting: "I thought we got really good shots and I thought we were unselfish.  I know we got the ball in spots where we could be successful.  We tried to get Trhae [Mitchell] driving downhill a lot, and he really made good decisions; he was able to create shots for guys and they were ready to knock it in whether it was Rod[rick] Sikes, Korey Holden and even [John] Pett[way]."

UP NEXT
South Alabama hosts Arkansas State Thursday night at 7 p.m.

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—USA—