MOBILE, Ala. – Coastal Carolina's Rudi Williams knocked down the game-winning three-pointer with one second remaining in overtime and the University of South Alabama men's basketball team dropped a 69-68 overtime thriller in the semifinals of The Basketball Classic on Monday night at the Mitchell Center.
 
Javon Franklin posted his eighth double-double of the season, finishing with 17 points and 12 rebounds. Tyler Shirley had a career-high 14 points, going 4-for-8 from beyond the arc and Alex Anderson added 10 to lead the Jaguar attack.
 
Coastal Carolina's Williams scored a team-high 17 points, Vince Cole chipped in 16 and Essam Mostafa finished with 12 to lead the Chanticleers.
 
Place: Mitchell Center
Final Score: South Alabama 68, Coastal Carolina 69
Records: South Alabama (21-12) (9-7), Coastal Carolina (19-13) (8-8)
 
GAME FACTS
- South held Coastal Carolina 3-of-12 from the field over the first nine minutes, while shooting 4-for-5 from beyond the arc to build an 18-9 lead.
- Coastal went on a 15-7 run to cut the Jag lead to one, 25-24, with 5:06 remaining.
- Cole knocked down a triple to give the Chanticleers their first lead of the game, 29-27, with just over two minutes to go in the half.
- USA answered with four straight points and a Shirley layup put the Jags back in front, 31-29 at the half.
- Coastal Carolina opened the half on a 9-0 run over the first three minutes to take a 38-31 lead.
- Shirley connected on two straight three-pointers and Kayo Goncalves hit his first triple of the night to put the Jags back in front, 44-42, with 11:29 left in the game.
- The Jags pushed the lead to 52-45 after Goncalves knocked down his second trey with 6:44 to go in the contest.
- The Chanticleers cut the deficit to two, 54-52 after back-to-back layups.
- Franklin scored two straight buckets to extend the Jag lead back to four, 58-54, with just under three minutes left.
- Wilfried Likayi responded with a three-pointer to pull Coastal within one, 58-57.
- Alex Anderson answered on the other end with an offensive rebound and a putback to extend the lead back to 60-57, with 50.1 seconds on the clock.
- South Alabama missed the front end of a one-and-one and Cole hit a corner triple to tie the game at 60-60 with 10 seconds left.
- Franklin missed a fadeaway jumper as time expired and the game went into overtime.
- Both teams traded baskets over the first four minutes of overtime until Tyrell Jones knocked down a pair of free throws to put South up 68-66 with 48 seconds to go.
- Trailing by two, Dibba missed a jumper and USA got the defensive rebound but the Chanticleers forced a turnover with 17 seconds left.
- Coastal Carolina's Williams hit a three-pointer with one second on the clock and the Chanticleers get the 69-68 win.
 
NOTES
- Both games against Coastal Carolina this season has come down to the final shot. Goncalves knocked down the game-winning three-pointer as time expired to beat Coastal Carolina 71-68 in the regular season.
- South Alabama finished the season 21-12. The 21 wins were the most since the 2007-08 team won 26 games.
- The Jaguars won two games in the postseason for just the second time in program history. South won two games in the 1981 NIT.
- USA ended the season 15-3 at home this season. The 15 wins are the second-most in Mitchell Center history, only trailing the 2007-08 team's 17 wins. The 15 wins are also tied for the third-most in program history.
- The Jags have won at least 20 games in two out of the last three seasons under Richie Riley. 
- After hitting two three-pointers tonight, Goncalves ended his Jag career with 153 three-pointers and is tied for seventh in program history with Carlos Smith.
- Franklin produced the highest field goal percentage in South Alabama history this season, going 156-for-238 (65.5 percent) from the field. Brandon Davis previously had the best percentage at 63.1 percent.
- In three games of The Basketball Classic, Franklin averaged 20.6 points and 11 rebounds.
- Jones dished out a career-high seven assists and grabbed a career-best six rebounds against Coastal Carolina.
- Shirley posted career bests in points (14), blocks (1), field goals made (5), field goals attempted (9), three-point field goals made (4) and three-point field goals attempted (8).
- Anderson finished the season with nine games scoring in double digits and set a career-high with three steals against Coastal.
 
THEY SAID IT
Head Coach Richie Riley
- Opening statement:
"This has been a great tournament for us, first and foremost. It really has. A guy like Tyler Shirley was able to showcase how much better he has gotten throughout the year and he earned some trust. It was an unbelievable deal for him and all of our guys. I was proud of our fight, with eight guys available and a lot of guys that hadn't played a lot all year. We were missing our two leading scorers and we still had an opportunity to win. Now, I wasn't really proud of the way we finished. We had opportunities to win the game and when you enter the game in the situation that we were in, that's all you can ask for. We didn't seize the moment and I wished that we would have. Part of it was that some guys that were in there at the end hadn't been in that position before. We had no timeouts down the stretch. We used the only one that we had when Diante [Smith] saved the ball going out of bounds on the first defensive possession in overtime. We had to fight through it with no timeouts with kind of an inexperienced group out there. Again, I'm just so glad that we played in this tournament. I'm hurting that we lost and I wish we could have won one more to make it to the championship. But, I think it really helped our team to be able to play these games. It showed us a lot about some guys who hadn't gotten to play as much and also what they can potentially be for us going forward."
 
- On Shirley and Alex Anderson stepping up the past few games:
"They did and made some big plays. Alex made some huge plays and grabbed some big offensive rebounds and had some good finishes around the rim. Shirley made some big shots tonight. Alex has played a lot all year and a lot of meaningful minutes. It took Shirley a minute to get his legs underneath him and he's battled injuries. He got himself into position where he earned some minutes in practice down the stretch and he took full advantage. He played really well and showed that he can really be a part of what we are doing moving forward. I was just really glad for those guys and our whole team too. It was a killer to lose like this and you don't ever want to end the season like this. But, we got a lot out of it and I'm proud of our kids. It seemed like every game somebody got hurt and it was a year full of that, to be honest. We finished with 21 wins and it could have gone bad. Despite the adversity that we went through, the kids continued to fight and didn't make excuses and continued to play better. I'm just really proud of them for that."
 
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