MOBILE, Ala. – Charles Manning Jr. posted a team-high 17 points to help the University of South Alabama men's basketball team defeat Tarleton 69-62 Tuesday night at the Mitchell Center.
 
He also recorded career-highs with six blocks and eight rebounds, to go along with five assists. The Jaguars (9-2) had four individuals finish in double figures. Javon Franklin scored 14 points, Jay Jay Chandler added 13 and Alex Anderson chipped in 11.
 
Tarleton's Tahj Small led all scorers with 24 points and Montre Gipson finished with 15.
 
Date: 12/14
Place: Mitchell Center
Final Score: South Alabama 69, Tarleton 62
Records: South Alabama 9-2, Tarleton 3-8
 
GAME FACTS
- Tarleton opened the contest on an 8-2 run over the first three minutes.
- Manning Jr. scored the next seven points to put USA out front, 9-8.
- The Texans answered with five straight points to retake the lead, 13-9 with just over 13 minutes remaining in the half.
- Kayo Goncalves and Chandler hit two treys to tie it at 16-16 with 10 minutes left.
- Tarleton outscored the Jags 16-12 over the final 10 minutes to extend the lead to four, 32-28, at the break.
- South Alabama scored 13 of the first 18 points of the second half to regain the lead at 41-37, highlighted by a block and two transition three-point plays from Manning Jr.
- The Texans answered with a 12-4 run to grab the lead, 49-45, with 9:41 left in the contest.
- Goncalves hit his third three-pointer of the night to put the Jags back out in front, 50-49.
- USA went on a 15-4 run and pushed the lead to 12, 65-53 with 3:39 remaining.
- Tarleton responded with seven straight points to cut the lead to five, 65-60, with 1:38 to go in regulation.
- South scored four of the final six points to secure the 69-62 victory.
 
NOTES
- This was the first ever meeting between the two programs.
- South has won eight straight games and improved to 6-0 at the Mitchell Center.
- Dating back to the 2019-20 season, South Alabama has had an eight-game winning streak each season.
- USA is off to its best start through 11 games since the 2005-06 team started 9-2.
- The Jags have forced 15 or more turnovers in 10 out of 11 contests.
- South Alabama improved to 4-0 this season when trailing at halftime.
- Manning Jr. set or tied career-highs in blocks, rebounds and assists.
- Chandler has scored in double figures in eight straight games.
- After opening the season with three straight games in double figures, Franklin has scored 10 or more points over his last three, shooting 22-of-26 (84.5 percent) from the field during the stretch.
- Anderson has finished in double digits in three straight games.
- Goncalves has hit at least one three-pointer in 24 consecutive contests.
 
THEY SAID IT
Head Coach Richie Riley
- Opening statement:
"We got what we signed up for, they are scrappy and play incredibly hard. They are arguably one of the hardest-playing teams in the country and they're really well coached. Coach Gillespie is a great coach, he's done this for a long time and he has a scrappy group; we saw it when they went to Gonzaga and Michigan, we've seen it every game they've played. They made us uncomfortable. We had a long stretch off and it showed, we were rusty but a lot of it was because of them and the pressure they put on us. We turned it over 22 times, which is very uncharacteristic of our team, we have to do a better job. We play these guys again in 72 hours, we have to do a better job of taking care of the ball down there or its going to be really difficult. I was proud of our resiliency to find a way, we didn't play our best or shoot the ball very well, we were very uncomfortable — they make it hard to run offense, to change sides of the floor is very difficult with their denial and their ball pressure, they literally guard you skin on skin — so I was proud of our ability to bounce back in the second half. I thought Javon Franklin was tremendous, he kept his composure and made timely plays whether it was a rebound-put back or the steal for the dunk there at the end. Obviously it's not secret, you look at 22 turnovers and 16 of them came from our guards so we have to do a better job moving forward, especially when we go down there on Friday night."
 
On the atmosphere in the Mitchell Center:
"I was really excited tonight to see the crowd that we had, especially since most of the students have gone home. Just having people in the community come out is huge. What I've said since I got this job, I want us to be Mobile's team. Whether you went to school here or if you didn't, if you live in this city come out and watch a game. Our kids play really hard, we've won eight in a row — which is a statement on its own — but it's a fun product to watch. I know there are Alabama and Auburn fans in this state, I get that, but that doesn't mean if you're in our city you can't be a South Alabama fan. We need you out here. It made a difference tonight, it got loud in moments when it needed to be loud and affected the game. And it gives our guys energy, our guys were tired and it gave us an extra boost to finish the game. Everybody that came out I really appreciate."
 
On Charles Manning Jr.:
"Charles is a heck of a player, we knew that when we recruited him. He's played at the highest level of [collegiate] basketball and he's been productive at that level, that's a tale of its own of how talented a player he is. He's been forced into doing some things with this team that he didn't know he was going to be doing, he's our primary handler with Turbo [Jones] and [Greg] Parham out. I'm proud of him for that, he's taken it on. We ask him to do a lot; a lot of times he guards the best player on the other team, he does the primary ballhandling for us, he creates shots for other people and he averages 17 [points] a game. There have been so many nights this year that he has kind of put us on his back to finish games or to keep us in games so that we could finish them. He's a great kid to coach, I think he has a bright future playing this game."
 
UP NEXT
- USA will travel to Tarleton on Friday at 7 p.m. to complete the home-and-home matchup with the Texans.
 
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).

Join the South Circle, the unrestricted giving option of the University of South Alabama Athletics. Contributions to South Circle directly support all 17 sports in addition to various support programming. For more information on how you can join visit: http://jaguarathleticfund.com/give
 
—USA—