MOBILE, Ala. – Michael Flowers buried 31 points on 12-of-20 from the field and 7-of-9 from behind the arc to lead the University of South Alabama men's basketball team to a nine-point win, 73-64, over Appalachian State Friday evening at the Mitchell Center.

Aside from Flowers, KK Curry and Tyreke Locure each registered double-figures with the sophomores scoring 16 and 14 respectively. West ripped down 13 rebounds to go with his four points and three blocks in 32 minutes off the bench. Curry was one-rebound shy of a double-double.

App State's Donovan Gregory and Michael Almonancy each notched double-digit games (14 and 12), but not other Mountaineer joined them as the visitors were held to shooting 38.5 percent from the floor for the game while shooting 10-for-29 in the second half.

GAME FACTS
- Appalachian State's defense staggered the Jaguars early and claimed a 12-point advantage at the second media break, 20-8 with 11:53 on the clock. The Mountaineers turned over USA seven times in that timeframe.
- South closed the gap, but App State took the lead into the break for halftime, 37-30. In the half's final seven minutes, 11 of USA's 14 points were scored by either Curry or Flowers.
- Locure shot the Jaguars into their first lead, 44-41 with a three off the right wing four minutes and 27 seconds into the second half. South stretched the lead to six with Jamal West making a second-chance layup and Flowers hitting a three on the following possession.
- USA carried a small lead into the under-eight media break, 61-55, after the Jaguars found the net on 6-of-7 three-pointers.
- South held off the Mountaineers claiming a nine-point victory, 73-64.
- The Jaguars outrebounded App 42-31.
- South committed seven turnovers within the first eight minutes of the game, but limited it to seven turnovers the remainder of the game.
- After starting the game 0-for-6 from the floor, the Jaguars made 25 field goals on 46 shots (54.3 percent).

NOTES
- South Alabama notched its 10th win in the series with Appalachian State in 12 contests.
- Fifteen points has been the largest deficit this season USA has trailed by this year and overcome to win.
- Flowers becomes the first Jaguar to score above 30 points since Josh Ajayi scored 30 against Southern Miss on Nov. 9, 2019.
- West recorded his second double-digit rebounding performance, both in conference play as the first time he achieved the feat was at Georgia Southern on Jan. 2 (12).
- Curry has scored in double figures six of the last eight contests, and when reaching double figures is averaging 16.1 points-per-game.
- Locure (14) reached double figures for the 10th time this season.

THEY SAID IT
Head Coach Richie Riley
- Opening Statement: "It was tale of two halves, very different, we got off to a bad start. At halftime, I told our guys if we win it's going to be about grit and it's probably not going to be very pretty out there. We're going to have to start getting more loose balls and finishing shots in the paint that we didn't in the first half. It was a rough game and the only thing that made it pretty was [number] 12. [Michael] Flowers was really special tonight, I talk to him all the time and it goes it hand-in-hand, his effort defensively was so much better in the second half and it got him going offensively. He didn't miss a shot until the last two that he took once the game was in hand. I was really proud of Jamal West, thought he group up a lot as a true freshman in a league game that we needed to win, he really stepped up. [KK] Curry and Locure were good, we have got to cut down our turnovers and clean up a few things but I thought they were good. Pettway's contributions don't always show up in the box score, but his leadership and some of the things he did out there really helped us win. Those five we went with the whole second half really put us on their back in the second half."
On the comeback: "It's huge to be able to come back like that. We have a resilient program I think everybody knows that with the stuff we have been through this year. These kids want to win and they're trying to figure out how to win in games like this. This is a big step in the right direction, to get off to that horrendous start and know that if they dig deep and they keep fighting they can find a way to win. That group in the second half was about winning, from every play, taking a charge or a foul or challenging their shots at the rim. It was huge to be able to bounce back and win the game, our kids bunkered down and kept us centered.
On coaching through doubleheaders: "I've learned it's the hardest thing I've ever done in coaching. We're going to play in less than 24 hours, and we do it every weekend it's different to do it in a weekend in March to go to the NCAA tournament, it's a different level of emotion. I told our guys- you got to go get treatment and fluids so we can make sure we come out here and replicate what we did that second half. It's about coming out here and fighting- and that's what I challenged our team before the game. Early on it looked like we didn't want to fight, and then we bunkered down for the second half and had a different look in our eye."

Up next: South Alabama will face Appalachian State Saturday with a tipoff time of 4 p.m.

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