MOBILE, Ala. – The University of South Alabama men's basketball team used a 20-6 run in the second half to come back from a six-point deficit and advance to the second round of the Sun Belt Conference Tournament with a 75-67 win over Arkansas State Tuesday night at the Mitchell Center.

The No. 8 seed Jaguars improve to 16-16 overall and will play No. 5 seed Louisiana Thursday at 5 p.m. The No. 9 seed Red Wolves fall to 13-19.

After trailing for most of the contest, South Alabama scored seven unanswered points – four from junior Josh Ajayi and three from junior Trhae Mitchell – to take a one-point lead, then with the score tied at 47-47, went on a 10-2 run to go up 57-49.

Three 3-pointers over a 1:35 stretch put the Jags up 13 with 6:01 to play and the Red Wolves got no closer than eight the rest of the way.

GAME FACTS
- Arkansas State grabbed an early 9-2 lead and only briefly trailed in the first half before taking a 32-29 advantage into halftime
- South Alabama tied the game on a triple from junior Herb McGee just 11 seconds after the resumption of play, but A-State countered with back-to-back treys from Ty Cockfield and Grantham Gillard to go back up six
- Ajayi and graduate Kory Holden combined for five points before Gillard and Marquis Eaton answered with five of their own to go back up six with 16:05 to go in the game
- The Jaguars made their move from there, as Mitchell nailed a triple at the 13:57 mark and Ajayi followed with a pair of free throws and a layup for seven consecutive points and a 44-43 lead
- A jumper from Eaton and two free throws from Tristin Walley sandwiched a 3-pointer from McGee, and the two teams were tied at 47-47 with 10:44 to go
- After Holden converted a 3-point play on the Jags' next trip down the floor, Walley countered with a layup, but senior Rodrick Sikes hit a triple and a fast-break dunk just 15 seconds apart, and Mitchell tacked on a layup of his own to cap off the 20-6 rally
- Up six with less than eight minutes to go, McGee and Holden hit back-to-back treys, and after a bucket from Eaton, Sikes added another to give the Jaguars a 68-55 lead with 6:01 left in the contest
- Ajayi posted a game-high 22 points and grabbed 9 rebounds, and Holden tallied 20 points on five 3-pointers
- Mitchell just missed a triple-double with 13 points, a career-high-tying 13 rebounds, and 8 blocks; the 8 blocks are tied for third in school history -- one shy of the record -- and ties the Mitchell Center record
- Cockfield paced the Red Wolves with 21 points and four assists

NOTES
- Tuesday was just the second time in since 2006-07 that the Jaguars won a Sun Belt Tournament game after splitting the regular-season series with an opponent; the team was 1-5 that scenario entering the game
- South Alabama is 8-3 in home tournament games in its history, and 5-2 at the Mitchell Center
- USA leads the series with A-State 2-1 in their Sun Belt Tournament history
- South Alabama shot 60.0 percent from the floor in the second half for the second straight game and seventh time this season; the team is 6-1 this season when hitting that mark after halftime
- Ajayi is averaging 24.0 points in his last two games
- Mitchell has posted back-to-back double-doubles for the third time this season
- Mitchell has come close to recording two triple-doubles this season; he had 11 points, 13 rebounds and 9 assists vs. Alabama A&M on Dec. 19
- Mitchell had 4 assists to move into 16th at South Alabama with 227 in his career

THEY SAID IT
Head Coach Richie Riley
Opening statement: "As bad as we played in the first half, we played that good in the second half. We went into the locker room as a team and we talked about a lot of things. The big thing we talked about is that we've got 20 minutes to raise our level or we're going home. Our guys responded and I'm so proud of them. Their response was unbelievable. In the second half we shot 60 percent from the field, 72 percent from three, 80 percent from the free throw line and we were really good executing and shooting the ball in. These guys are capable of so much. They get mad at me because I yell and scream at them a lot—and I may do that a little bit too much sometimes—but they're capable of so much. I just want them to have these moments like they did tonight. That was awesome to find a way to play like we did in the second half in a win-or-go-home game and advance to New Orleans. We're excited to get down there and compete."

On the team's progress throughout the season and advancing to New Orleans: "It means so much to me because we worked so hard. I've talked about from the preseason and as soon as we got these guys in the summer, I'll put up how hard we work against anybody in the country, no matter what league. When you work that hard, you deserve to have moments like tonight. You deserve to overachieve. We've won more than we've won in six years. Now we've won two more games than we've won here in six years. I've said it a lot, but I put these guys at a bit of a handicap because we sit four guys out. We've had nine scholarship guys all year. We've had guys play high minutes. Josh Ajayi and Kory Holden play almost the whole game. They've played through injuries. For them to respond the way that they have and grow closer as a team makes me proud. Tonight we grew closer. Obviously, winning is fun, but to see the look on their faces after we win in the locker room throwing Gatorade all over me—that's the best. Hopefully we get to experience that a lot more times this year down the stretch. We've going to go down there and give it our best shot."

On the challenges of a tournament setup of four games in four days with a short bench: "I think all of that goes out the window. I may be crazy, but I think when you get down there and you get rolling, your adrenaline takes over. Tonight I was looking around. I thought guys were tired and I kept asking my coaches if we needed to get some of these guys out. I kept asking our guys out on the court if they were ok and they just kept saying yes. They kept playing harder and harder. We're going to take it one game at a time. We've got Louisiana, who's a heck of a team. We had a battle down there. They hit a couple 3s late to beat us by four. We're going to go down there and try to find a way to win that 40 minutes. If we win that 40 minutes, we'll worry about Friday. We're going to take it one minute at a time, one second at a time. We're just going to fight and fight as much as we can and enjoy each other. We don't want it to be the last one. We've got two seniors and we don't want it to be their last one, so we're going to keep fighting and fighting for those guys."

Junior F Josh Ajayi
On the feeling once the team got rolling: "Especially when we have three or four guys on the court who can shoot, it really gives the defense a lot of pressure. That takes a load off me, especially in the zone. One thing that we emphasize is spreading the floor. It basically comes down to one-on-one in the post with me and the other player. For me, it was just being able to find them when they were open. We're unstoppable when we guard and that translates to us on the offensive side when we hit shots."

Senior G Kory Holden
On the difference in the second half: "We just knew we had to guard. Coach tells us all the time that if we guard, nine times out of 10 your shots are going to go in. That's specifically for me and Rodrick Sikes; that's been a big thing for us all year. We knew as seniors that it could be our last game, so we really wanted to respond to Coach and come out and guard and play hard. It started with us and went down to Josh Ajayi, Herb McGee, Trhae Mitchell—the whole team. Everyone who came in in the second half played a part in what we just did. The crowd always plays a big part for us because when they get going, we get going and it seems that our shots start to fall even more once they get energetic. That's big for us to have them there and we definitely appreciate it."

UP NEXT
South Alabama will face No. 5 seed Louisiana Thursday at 5 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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