MOBILE, Ala. – Little Rock came back from a nine-point deficit at halftime, outscoring the University of South Alabama men's basketball team 44-30 in the second half, in a 73-68 victory Saturday afternoon at the Mitchell Center.

Rayjon Tucker scored a game-high 24 points – 17 in the second half – to lead the Trojans, going 10 for 15 from the foul line, and grabbed nine rebounds. Kamani Johnson went 9 for 13 from the stripe for 15 points.

After a John Pettway layup gave the Jaguars a 42-32 lead, the Trojans went on an 11-2 rally to pull within one. Pettway converted a 3-point play at the other end but Tucker accounted for all six points in a 6-0 run to give Little Rock the lead for the first time, 49-47.

USA tied the contest twice in the final 12 minutes – the last at the 7:05 mark – but back-to-back layups from Nikola Maric capped off six unanswered points for a 66-60 advantage and Little Rock never relinquished the lead again.

GAME FACTS
- South Alabama started fast, scoring 12 of the first 14 points, and a jumper from Pettway put the Jags up 15-5 at the 10:41 mark
- Little Rock responded with nine straight points to get to 15-14
- A 12-4 scoring rally by the Jags increased their advantage to nine and USA took a 38-29 lead into intermission
- Tucker accounted for 13 of the Trojans' 17 points in a 17-5 run, going 4 for 4 from the floor – 2 for 2 from deep – and adding three free throws for a 49-47 advantage with 12:05 left
- After Little Rock grabbed a 60-54 lead, a jumper from junior Herb McGee and two free throws each from senior Rodrick Sikes and junior Josh Ajayi knotted the score at 60-60 at the 5:20 mark
- It took 23 seconds for the Trojans to regain the lead on two free throws from Johnson and Maric's two layups; the Jags countered with four points to get within 66-64, but Maric converted twice at the line and Dani Koljanin hit a bucket to go back up 70-64 with 1:57 left
- Sikes cut the deficit in half with a triple with a minute left, however the Jaguars missed its only field-goal attempt and committed two turnovers thereafter
- Sikes led the Jaguars with 19 points, going 4 for 8 from 3-point land and 7 for 8 from the line, and Pettway tied his career high with 16 points on 6-of-8 shooting

NOTES
- Ten of South Alabama's 11 conference games have been decided by single-digits; the other one was a 29-point loss at Little Rock
- Junior Trhae Mitchell grabbed a team-best nine rebounds, and Ajayi and Pettway had eight apiece; Pettway's total is a new career high
- McGee and Ajayi scored 10 points each
- Little Rock's comeback is the biggest by a South Alabama opponent this season
- The Trojans missed all 12 long-range attempts in the first half and finished 4 for 24 for the contest
- McGee has scored double-digit points five times in his last six games and is averaging 13.7 points in that span
- Ajayi has tallied 10 points or more in his last 19 games, but his .300 shooting percentage today was his lowest since Nov. 17 vs. Jacksonville
- Pettway is averaging 13.7 points in his last six outings and shooting 68.1 percent from the field and 81.0 percent from the charity stripe
- Tucker has scored at least 23 points in his last three games; he was held to a season-low 6 points Jan. 12 in Little Rock

THEY SAID IT
Head Coach Richie Riley
Opening statement: "It's absolutely disappointing. If you want to have a successful program, you can't lose games like this. You can't. The lack of motivation from our guys, the lack of energy and passion falls directly on me; I'm the head coach and I have to accept that. We did a lot of things to try to make sure that we were ready to go, not only from a motivational standpoint but with this group we have to worry about energy, competing, and things like that. We tried everything. We had a motivational video and everything. These guys beat us by 29 at Little Rock. I'm surprised at how we lacked passion, how we lacked energy, and how we lacked focus. I'm really surprised at that. It hurts. As the head coach, it hurts for your team to look like that and to play like that because it's a reflection on me. We've got to do better. I've got to do better. You just can't lose games like that. You can't bring a team like that in here and lose to them if you're going to have a program that competes to be in the mix when you get to the final two weeks. It's a bad loss. There's no other way of putting it."

On the team getting into foul trouble: "It really hurt us, especially the way that Josh Ajayi picked up his fouls. He picked up some really, really bad fouls. He barely touches a kid and they give him an 'and one' for his second foul. He gets his third foul quickly, just bumping into a kid. I don't know what he was doing. That hurt us. It's hard for Kevin Morris. He picked up four fouls and played five and a half minutes. Depth is a problem. Rodrick Sikes goes out for a few minutes with his ankle and then comes back. It's hard with the numbers that we've got, but that's no excuse. It's no reason to lose this game. You have to find a way to win these games."

On Sikes' performance off the bench: "He came in and was good. He looked like Rod when he gets it going. He made some shots, drove to the basket, and made a couple of good passes. Hopefully it helps his confidence moving forward to see the ball go in a little bit and help him get going for the stretch we're in. I thought he played pretty good."

UP NEXT
South Alabama opens a three-game road trip Wednesday at 6 p.m. CST against Georgia Southern.

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).

Join the South Circle, the unrestricted giving option of the University of South Alabama Athletics. Contributions to South Circle directly support all 17 sports in addition to various support programming. For more information on how you can join visit: http://jaguarathleticfund.com/give

—USA—