MOBILE, Ala. – The University of South Alabama men's basketball team defeated Georgia Southern 74-68 Saturday in Sun Belt Conference action at the Mitchell Center.

The Jaguars trailed 39-31 at the half, but outscored Georgia Southern 43-29 in the second half to secure the victory. Josh Ajayi finished with a game-high 24 points, and also added eight rebounds and two steals, marking his 16th game of the season with double figures in scoring and sixth with 20 or more points.

USA (12-8, 5-4 Sun Belt) will return to action Thu., Jan. 23, when it faces Arkansas State in a Sun Belt Conference game at 7 p.m. in Jonesboro, Ark. 

 GAME FACTS
- South Alabama took an 8-2 lead at the 16:52 mark of the first half after a three pointer from the left corner by Trhae Mitchell. But the Eagles went on an 8-0 scoring run, aided by consecutive threes, to take a 10-8 lead. USA tied the score 10-10 on a driving layup by John Pettway, but Georgia Southern knocked down two straight threes for a 16-10 advantage.
- The Eagles took a 19-14 lead on a three from David Viti at the 11:07 mark of the first half before a field goal by Andre Fox and a pair of free throws by Ajayi cut the Eagle lead to 19-18 with 8:30 remaining in the half. A pair of Herb McGee free throws tied the game 20-20, but Georgia Southern's Ike Smith knocked down a three from the key on the ensuing trip down the court, and a free throw by Isaiah Crawley pushed the GASO lead to 24-20 with 6:25 left in the first half.
- Georgia Southern held a 26-24 lead until Andre Fox buried a three from the top of the key for a 27-26 Jaguar lead with 4:49 left in the first half. The Eagles answered with a 7-0 run to take a 33-27 lead. A layup by Ajayi cut the Eagle lead to 32-29, but Georgia Southern responded with back-to-back threes from Viti and Elijah McCadden for a 39-29 lead with 1:18 left in the first half. A pair of McGee free throws cut the Georgia Southern lead to 39-31 at the half.
- USA outscored the Eagles 10-6 to open the second half, which cut the GASO lead to 45-41 at the 15:46 mark. South Alabama cut the Georgia Southern lead to one point at 47-46 on a three from McGee with 14:16 left in regulation. A pair of free throws from Pettway cut the GASO lead to 52-50 before a tip-in layup by Kevin Morris tied the game 52-52 with just over 11 minutes left in regulation. USA took a 55-52 lead at the 9:35 mark of the second half on a driving layup and free throw by McGee. A layup by Ajayi then pushed the Jag advantage to five points at 57-52 with nine minutes left in regulation.
- The Jags held a 59-57 lead until Eagle guard Calvin Wishart knocked down a three from the left wing for a 60-59 GASO advantage with 6:43 left in the second half. A pair of free throws by a Ajayi tied the score 61-61, but Wishart hit a three from the right wing with 5:09 left in the second half for a 64-61 Eagle lead. Pettway hit a floating jumper at the 3:23 mark for a 65-64 Jaguar lead. A free throw by Mitchell and field goal from Pettway pushed the USA lead to 68-64 with a 1:47 remaining in regulation. A layup by Ajayi with 38.8 second remaining gave the Jags a 70-64 lead.

NOTES
- Ajayi finished with a game-high 24 points, his highest point total since scoring 24 against Alabama A&M on Dec. 17 this season. It marked his 16th game of the season with double figures in scoring and sixth with 20 or more points.
- McGee finished with a season-high 15 points, along with seven rebounds, two assists and three steals.
- Pettway reached double figures in scoring for the second straight game, finishing with 14 points in addition to two assists and two steals.
- Mitchell led the Jaguars with 10 rebounds, and also added six points and two assists.
- USA improved to 6-0 this season when Ajayi scores 20 or more points.
- The win snapped a three-game Jaguar losing skid in the series with Georgia Southern, marking the first USA victory over the Eagles since Jan. 31, 2017, in Mobile. South Alabama improved to 12-7 all-time against Georgia Southern.
- The game marked the Jaguars' third straight against a Sun Belt leader. USA has won two of those three contests.

QUOTES
Head Coach Richie Riley
- On the win:
"Before the game at shoot around, I talked to our guys about, are we going to have a want to or a have to mentality? Across the country, no matter the leve,l every team wants to win. No one wakes up in the morning and say I want to lose; you don't wake up like that. There is a huge difference between wanting to win and having to win in everything whether it's life, basketball, or whatever you're doing. I told our guys we have to develop a have-to mind set. This is who I am, I have to, it makes me physically ill when we don't play well and we lose. We have to become a group of people that has to win and if you do that then you'll be successful in life. 

"In the second half we had that mentality. I didn't have to say a whole lot out kids responding to what we said at halftime and they were tough. We held a really good team to 29 points in the second half, only had one turnover, held them to 23 percent from the three-point line, and 37 percent shooting in the second half. The second half was really good. We were able to weather the storm, after nine threes in the first half, everyone was ready for it to be like the game the other night but we got better contested shots and played with more urgency. Like I said the other night, when we don't turn the ball over very much we are a good team. That was the story the other night, I know they had 15 threes but they hit 13 tonight, we only gave up 12 points off seven turnovers versus the other night we turned it over 20 times and gave them 21 points off of those turnovers. We did a better job of eliminating second chance points by out rebounding them. I am proud of our guys, all the way down the list even guys that didn't play. Having that have to mentality. Our backs were against a wall, and we talk about it all the time – we want these guys to be great men when they leave here. So I tell them, in life your back is going to be against a wall a lot and you have to make a decision whether you are going to fight or feel sorry for yourself and give in. Today we fought back, although we lost a tough one Thursday, our kids found a way to fight back today so I am really proud of them for that."

UP NEXT
South Alabama will return to action Thu., Jan. 23, when it faces Arkansas State in a Sun Belt Conference game at 7 p.m. in Jonesboro, Ark. 

For more information about South Alabama athletics, check back with USAJaguars.com, and follow the Jaguars at Twitter.com/USAJaguarSports. Season tickets for all Jaguar athletic events can be purchased by calling (251) 461-1USA (1872).

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