ARLINGTON, Texas – Graduate Chad Lott scored a game-high 20 points and the University of South Alabama defense held the UT Arlington men's basketball team to 33.9% shooting in a 66-54 victory Monday night at the College Park Center.

Senior Josh Ajayi recorded a double-double with 14 points and a season-high-tying 13 rebounds, and junior John Pettway posted a season-best 10 points and a pair of steals.

The Jaguars (9-7, 2-3 Sun Belt), who never trailed, grabbed an early 16-8 lead and stretched it to 11 at halftime. The Mavericks (5-11, 1-4) rallied to get as close as four midway through the second half but USA was able to stave off any comeback attempts and finished the contest on a 12-5 run.

TiAndre Jackson-Young came off the bench to score a team-high 16 points for UT Arlington, which shot 6 for 33 (18.2%) from 3-point land.

GAME FACTS
- Lott came out firing and scored the game's first points just 16 seconds in; he recorded 10 of USA's first 14 points in less than seven minutes
- The Mavericks came back with an 8-2 run to get it to a two-point deficit, but the Jaguars outscored UTA 15-6 the rest of the half, capped off with a triple from senior Andre Fox and an old-fashioned 3-point play from Ajayi to lead 33-22 at the break
- UT Arlington trailed by 14 in the early stages of the second half before mounting a comeback thanks to a 13-3 rally, with nine points coming from Jackson-Young by himself on two 3s and a 3-point play
- Senior Trhae Mitchell answered just 12 seconds later with a trey of his own to push the Jaguar lead back up to seven, and on USA's next possession, Ajayi hit a layup for a 48-39 advantage
- UT Arlington had a chance to make it a one-possession contest with less than four minutes left but missed, and putback from Pettway, followed by a steal and a layup from Pettway 18 seconds later put the game away

NOTES
- South Alabama won in Arlington for the first time since 1977, snapping a four-game road losing streak, and won in the state of Texas for the first time since 2011-12, ending a 14-game skid
- The Jaguars also broke a five-game losing streak overall to the Mavericks, the longest active streak by USA entering the night
- UT Arlington shot just 26.9% and scored 22 points in the first half; both are the lowest by a Division I opponent this season
- The Jags dominated the point, outscoring the Mavs 34-14
- Ajayi's double-double is his fifth of the season; South Alabama is 5-0 this season when he has at least 10 points and 10 rebounds
- Ajayi went 6 for 10 from the floor and 2 for 3 from the free-throw line to move past Andy Denny for eighth at USA in career field goals (539) and past Ken Williams for sixth in career free throws made (367)
- Ajayi also surpassed Rory White for third in school history in career rebounds (744)
- Pettway had scored 13 total points this season coming into the night; the 10 points are his most since putting up 10 at Troy on Feb. 23, 2019
- USA improved to 7-0 this season when shooting 50% overall, 8-0 when outshooting its opponent, and 8-1 when tying or outrebounding its opponent
- Lott tied his season high in points as he shot 8 for 13 from the floor and 4 for 5 from the charity stripe
- Senior Herb McGee dished out six assists, tying his season high and the most by a Jaguar this season
- The two teams combined to make their first five shots of the second half, then proceeded to miss their next 11
- Jackson-Young went 3 for 8 from 3-point land; the rest of the team combined to go 3-25
- UTA's 3-point shooting night comes one game after USA allowed ULM to convert 15 times from distance on Saturday; the last time the two teams met, the Mavericks went 15 for 26 from behind the arc
- The Jags had 14 turnovers, breaking a run of five consecutive games with no more than 12; the team came into the game averaging the fewest turnovers in the Sun Belt

THEY SAID IT
Head Coach Richie Riley
Opening statement: "They have a really good team; they're going to win a lot of games. They started out with four straight road games; the Sun Belt schedule is a little wild. This was our third road game in five days, but they had their first four on the road so tonight was their conference home opener.

We responded. We met before we left Monroe for about three hours and talked through a lot of things, not only execution-wise but being more together and being there for each other and buying in to what we're doing. It's been an on-going conversation with our team and it's been frustrating. Tonight, they carried it over. The things they said in that meeting, they came out here and did. I'm really happy with this win."

On Pettway's night: "He was incredible. Pettway said in that meeting, 'I'm going to give it everything that I've got. I haven't been doing that.' He talked about his dreams and what he wants to do with his life and he said from here on out I'm going to give you every single thing I have the rest of the season, and he did tonight. That offensive rebound-putback was huge. Then the steal, he came down and finished it – huge. He's such a great kid and I'm glad he's starting to play well again. I hope he can continue to do that."

UP NEXT
The Jaguars come back home Thursday night against Arkansas State at 7 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—