MOBILE, Ala. – Javon Franklin scored a career-high 28 points on 10-of-12 shooting and pulled down a team-high seven rebounds as the University of South Alabama men's basketball team defeated USC Upstate 83-79 in the second round of The Basketball Classic on Monday night at the Mitchell Center.
 
Tyrell Jones finished with 13 points and dished out a career-high six assists, while Kayo Goncalves and Marshall Kearing each added 10 points to lead the Jaguars.
 
USC Upstate's Bryson Mozone posted a game-high 29 points, Jordan Gainey had 16 and Josh Aldrich chipped in 15 for the Spartans.
 
Place: Mitchell Center
Final Score: South Alabama 83, USC Upstate 79
Records: South Alabama (21-11) (9-7), USC Upstate Spartans (15-17) (10-6)
 
GAME FACTS
- South started the game by hitting its first three field goals to take a 10-0 lead.
- USC Upstate responded with back-to-back triples to make it 10-6, with less than 16 minutes remaining in the half.
- The Jags scored eight of the next 10 points to push the lead to double-digits, 18-8.
- USC Upstate went on a 10-5 run to cut the Jag lead to five, 23-18, with 7:51 left.
- USA outscored the Spartans 9-2 over the final two minutes to extend the lead to 42-29 at the break.
- Franklin and Goncalves combined to score 12 of South Alabama's first 14 points to open the second half as the Jags built a 56-39 lead with 14:34 to go.
- Gainey knocked down a three-pointer with just over 12 minutes left to cap off a 7-0 run by the Spartans to pull within 10, 56-46.
- Goncalves knocked down his third three-pointer of the game and USA went up 15, 63-48.
- USC Upstate went on a 22-8 run to cut the lead to one, 71-70, with 4:49 to go in the contest.
- South Alabama answered with a 9-2 run to go up seven, 80-73, with 35 seconds remaining.
- Jones hit two free throws and Franklin added another as the Jags held on for the 83-79 victory.
- South outscored USC Upstate 44-24 in the paint and 33-8 in bench points.
 
NOTES
- The Jags advance to the next round of The Basketball Classic.
- South has now won two games this postseason for just the second time in program history. The Jaguars won two games in the 1981 NIT.
- The Jaguars are 1-0 all-time against USC Upstate.
- USA improved to 15-2 at home this season. The 15 wins are the second-most in Mitchell Center history, only trailing the 2007-08 team's 17 wins.
- South shot 16-for-28 (57 percent) in the first half. The Jags are now 12-1 when shooting at least 50 percent from the field in the first half.
- The Jags went 30-for-51 (58.8 percent) for the game and improved to 9-0 this season when shooting over 50 percent for the game.
- South Alabama's 21 wins are the most for the program since the 2007-08 team won 26 games. The Jags have won at least 20 games in two out of four seasons under Richie Riley.
- Franklin's 28 points were the most by any Jag this season.
- Tyler Shirley finished with a career-best eight points on 3-of-4 shooting.
- Jones has scored at least 10 points in three straight games.
- Kearing posted his fifth game of the season scoring in double figures.
 
THEY SAID IT
Head Coach Richie Riley
- Opening statement:
"This is what these postseason tournaments are for. I've compared them to bowl games in football. When you play in one of these tournaments, it's to grow as a team and carry some momentum over as a team and as individuals. Tonight may have served that purpose more than any game I've ever coached in. Charles Manning Jr. goes down and we may be the unluckiest team in America. I'm sitting there looking at our bench and it's just crazy the things that have happened. So, he goes down, Jay Jay [Chandler] is already out, AP [Greg Parham] has been out all year and these young guys just stepped up. Tyler Shirley grew up so much tonight. He played 31 minutes and he just grew up so much. I talked about him a couple of times to my friends in coaching and he's a kid that is going to be a really good player. He got hurt in the preseason and got hurt in the fall and put on some weight that he needed to get off. He's worked tremendously hard in the weight room and trimmed himself down and he's worked so hard on his game. He's earned the opportunity to get out there and he went out there and made the most of it. It's awesome because he's a special kid and he truly earned every second of that 31 minutes that he played in the last two weeks of practice. Javon Franklin was incredible tonight and it was one of the best individual performances that we have had since I've been here. He was just incredible with the way that he put us on his back and scored around the rim. I loved our guys' resiliency. I thought Turbo [Jones] was really good and made some tough plays, Kayo [Goncalves] with some big triples, Marshall [Kearing] was really good. This tournament has been big for Marshall too, he's got a ton of confidence going into next year. I'm just so glad that we've had the opportunity to play in this tournament and I'm proud of our guys for taking advantage of it."
 
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—