PENSACOLA, Fla. – Charles Manning Jr. tied a career-high with 26 points and Tyrell Jones posted a career-best 15 but the University of South Alabama men's basketball team lost 75-71 to Little Rock in the opening round of the Hercules Tires Sun Belt Conference Men's Basketball Championship on Thursday.
 
Javon Franklin added 14 points, nine rebounds and four steals and Lance Thomas added seven points to lead the Jaguar offense.
 
Little Rock finished the game going 14-for-24 (58.3 percent) from beyond the arc and 15-of-16 from the charity stripe. Jordan Jefferson scored a team-high 24 points, including 8-for-9 from three. CJ White scored 14 points, Myron Gardner chipped in 12 and Nikola Maric had 11 for the Trojans.
 
Place: Pensacola Bay Center
Final Score: South Alabama 71, Little Rock 75
Records: South Alabama (19-11) (9-7), Little Rock Trojans (9-18) (3-11)
 
GAME FACTS
- Little Rock jumped out to an early start, making its first three shots to build a 7-0 lead.
- South answered with a 14-6 run to take the lead, 14-13, with 12:21 left.
- The Trojans countered by scoring 15 of the next 19 points to retake and stretch the lead to 10, 28-18.
- USA went on a 13-5 run, sparked by four points from Franklin and a corner triple from Thomas to cut the deficit to three, 34-31, with 3:15 remaining in the half.
- Jones scored five straight points to pull the Jags within one, 37-36, with 1:31 to go.
- Little Rock closed the half on a 5-0 run to take a 42-36 lead into the break.
- Both teams traded buckets over the first four minutes of the second half, Jones knocked down three free throws to cut Little Rock's lead to three, 46-43, with just under 15 minutes left.
- Jefferson knocked down his seventh triple of the game to extend Little Rock's lead to eight, 57-49, with 9:54 remaining in the game.
- Kayo Goncalves connected on his first three-pointer after being fouled and finished the four-point play to cut the deficit to four, 60-56.
- The Trojans extended the lead back to seven, 66-59, after going 4-for-4 at the charity stripe.
- South Alabama responded with a 7-0 run to tie the game at 66-66.
- Jefferson answered with a corner three-pointer and White hit a jumper to put Little Rock back in front, 71-66, with 2:19 to go in the game.
- Manning Jr. hit a jumper and added a free throw to pull South within two, 73-71, with 12 seconds remaining.
- White went 2-for-2 at the free throw line with 10 seconds to go to secure the 75-71 victory for the Trojans.
 
NOTES
- USA drops to 31-24 all-time against Little Rock and 7-2 against the Trojans in the Sun Belt Conference Tournament.
- South's 19 wins are the second-most since the 2008-09 season, Riley's 2019-20 team finished with 20 victories.
- Riley has won at least 17 games in all four seasons as head coach with the Jags.
- The Jaguars made a season-high 23 free throws on Thursday.
- Jones posted a career-high in points (15), free throws made (8) and free throws attempted (9).
- Franklin scored 10 or more points in 19 contests this season.
- Manning Jr. finished with at least 20 points a team-high 11 times.
 
THEY SAID IT
Head Coach Richie Riley
- Opening statement:
"Defensively, we gave up 14 three-pointers, which is a lot. It was frustrating in a tournament atmosphere, you want to stay around for awhile and unfortunately we were not able to."
 
- On if Little Rock did anything differently than the first matchup:
"Our energy wasn't as good. Obviously, we are missing our leading scorer and he played well in the first game. That's obviously a big difference from the first game. We just made a ton of mistakes early and allowed them to get in a rhythm and make shots. We've been doing a lot of this stuff and it hurt us today. When we looked at the film from when we played them the first time, we made a lot of the same mistakes. Again, I give them credit. Jefferson was 8-for-9 from three and that was incredible in a tournament environment and takes a lot of courage. I think it was a mixture of us playing poorly and them playing really well and us missing a key piece to who we are. It all mixed in to a different result here in Pensacola.
 
- On the plan for next year:
"I don't know. We have to figure it out. We won 19 games this year but that is not where we want to be as a program. When we got here, they hadn't won 20 games in over 10 years. Sometimes, we get a little bit confused about what this stuff is. We honestly have to be better and the goal is to win the conference tournament. We lost our starting backcourt before the season. So, we have to be better. The goal is to win championships. The goal is to win regular season and tournament championships. I do like the fact that we talk about getting back on track. We've had two shortened seasons the past two seasons. We won 17 last year out of 28 games and this year we won 19 out of 30. Before I got here, it was a long time before they did that. I don't want to say it was because of me but sometimes we look at things in a certain light that isn't always that light. We are working hard, we've had some injuries and COVID shutting us down during a double-bye. So, as a program we are trying our best to be a champion and I think we have had opportunities to be in that position. This year was not one of them. We fought like hell to get to 19 wins. It was a dogfight every single game, every single time. So, it's not that we want to go home after the first round. Nobody wants to go home after the first round. We have to be better, make adjustments, stay healthy and take another step."
 
- On any positives from the game:
"I think any time you lose, you can take some positives with it. I thought Turbo [Jones] played really well today. He struggled a little bit at times this year because he missed two and a half months. I thought today, in a tournament atmosphere, he stepped up and played really well."
 
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