LAFAYETTE, La. – University of South Alabama senior Andre Fox scored 12 second-half points and junior John Pettway got a key block in the final seconds to preserve the men's basketball team's 60-57 victory over Louisiana Thursday night at the Cajundome.

The Jaguars (8-6, 1-2 Sun Belt) used a 9-0 run early in the second half to take its biggest lead of the night, 42-31, but the Cajuns (5-9, 0-3) kept battling back and used a 10-3 run midway through the period to get within three, and an 11-4 run late in the contest to trail 60-57.

South Alabama missed an attempt to stretch the lead out to five, and after two Jaguar fouls and two Cajun timeouts, a 3-pointer from the top of the key was blocked by Pettway, who then secured the rebound.

Fox finished with a team-best 14 points on the night and senior Josh Ajayi scored 13 points with 12 rebounds. Louisiana's Mylik Wilson led all scorers with 17 points.

GAME FACTS
- The Jaguars got off to a slow start after missing their first eight shots of the night, but rebounded to take a 17-11 lead after a 16-3 run
- Louisiana responded with seven unanswered points as the lead changed four times in the last eight minutes of the half
- A putback from Ajayi gave the Jags a 28-25 lead at the break
- The second of two 3s from Cedric Russell in the first two minutes of the half preceded nine consecutive USA points for its biggest lead of the night, 42-31 with 15:43 to go
- Wilson nailed a pair of 3s one minute apart to key the 10-3 rally to help LA get within 49-46 with 9:26 to play, only to see Fox and Lott team up for seven unanswered points to get the lead back up to 10 with 6:44 left
- A layup from Wilson started a game-ending 11-4 run for the Cajuns, thanks to two triples from Russell and another from Wilson; Russell's last trey, with 59.2 seconds left made it a 60-57 contest
- Louisiana finally got off its game-tying attempt from Jalen Johnson with three seconds left but it was rejected by Pettway

NOTES
- South Alabama wins in Lafayette for the first time since January 2015, snapping a four-game road losing streak
- Tonight also marked the Jaguars' first road win of the year (1-2)
- Pettway had just four career blocks coming into the game, and none this season
- Ajayi recorded his fourth double-double of the season and 23rd of his career; he leads the team this season and ranks fourth in school history in career double-doubles
- Ajayi moved past Ed Rains into fourth all-time at South Alabama with 724 career rebounds; Ajayi is 13 shy of Rory White in third
- Ajayi's 12 rebounds are his second highest this season and most against a Division I school (13 vs. Pikeville)
- The Jags improved to 1-3 this season when scoring fewer than 70 points
- USA shot 32.0% in the first half but 50.0% in the second to go to 7-3 this year when converting 50% or better after halftime
- The Jaguars are 7-0 in 2019-20 when outshooting their opponents
- Fox has scored double-digit points in the second half six times this season, second on the team behind Ajayi
- Fox's 14-point night comes after he scored a total of seven in his previous two games
- Ajayi is averaging 20.3 points and 10.3 rebounds in his last three games against Louisiana
- South Alabama last held consecutive opponents to fewer than 60 points on Nov. 18-19, 2017
- USA shot 15 for 17 (87.5%) from the free-throw line tonight; the last season the Jags had three games at 87.5% or better (min. 15 FTM) was 1980-81; the team leads Sun Belt in free-throw percentage (.755)
- South Alabama permitted Louisiana just 12 points in the paint, one game after allowing Mobile a season-low eight paint points; in the previous three games, the team allowed 45.3 points in the paint
- Louisiana's 41 attempts from behind the arc are third-most by an opponent since 1990

THEY SAID IT
Head Coach Richie Riley
Opening statement: "Any time you can come in here and win at Lafayette, it's a heckuva win. Our guys defended. We weren't great offensively and still struggled to make shots, but I tell them all the time, if you can take away the paint, contest shots and box out and rebound… We defended at a high level; we held them to 32% from the field, 29% from 3, and they only shot eight free throws, which is tremendous."

On Ajayi going down late: "I didn't think it was that bad – cramps is what it was – and he's obviously a muscled-up dude, so he doesn't have a lot of body fat. He cramps pretty easily and they're pretty bad – he couldn't play. So we had to go smaller and we were able to finish. The other thing that hurt us was Chad Lott in foul trouble. When he's not out there, it hurts our rebounding and intensity. He made a couple of huge baskets down the stretch to keep them at bay. It was a gritty effort – it's who we're trying to be. Any time you hold people to that percentage, you're going to give yourself a chance to win."

On keeping Louisiana out of the paint: "They made 12 (3-pointers) – that's 36 points. Threes are really loud, but they're only one more point than a '2' and if you make 12 of them, that's 36 points – it's not the end of the world. But you can't give up a mix of 12 3s and give up a ton of points in the paint. We didn't do that, which was great. We only gave them seven 2-point baskets and didn't let them get to the free-throw line. If you can defend the paint like we did, then you're not going to foul a whole lot because it's not getting in there very often."

UP NEXT
The Jaguars stay in Louisiana for a Saturday afternoon clash with ULM at 2 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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—USA—