PENSACOLA, Fla. | South Alabama (18-15) scored 52 points in the second half on their way to defeating the top-seeded Southern Miss Golden Eagles (25-7) in the quarterfinals of the Sun Belt Conference Championship at the Pensacola Bay Center, 78-61.
 
Owen White led the Jags with 23 points, a new season-high. Isaiah Moore added 17 points and seven assists with only two turnovers, and Greg Parham II also had 17 points off the bench, going 8-of-9 from the free throw line.
 
GAME FACTS (HOW IT HAPPENED)

• The Jaguars started with a 6-0 at the 16:27 mark.
• South held a 10-5 lead at the under-16 media timeout. Judah Brown had five of those points.
• The Jags continued to hold a small margin, 12-9, with 11:16 left in the first half. The defense held Southern Miss to 3-of-11 shooting in those first 8+ minutes.
• USM tied the game at 16 with 8:19 to play.
• After making their first 3-pointer, the Jags missed their following eight, before White made his first with 15 seconds left before the break.
• White from behind the arc gave the Jags their first lead in the second half, 29-27, with 19:04 to play.
• Southern Miss used a 7-0 run to take a 34-30 lead with just over 15 minutes to play.
• South Alabama followed that up with a 9-0 run in 57 seconds to take back the lead, 39-34, punctuated by a 4-point play from Brown.
• With 11 minutes to play, the Jags had a five-point lead, 43-38.
• The Eagles took the lead, 47-45, on a pair of free throws from Mo Arnold, with 8:47 to play.
• South followed that up with a 9-2 run to lead 54-49, forcing a Southern Miss timeout with 6:29 to play.
• With five minutes to go, the Jags led, 59-51, Moore extended it to 10 with a pair of free throws.
• The Jags made eight straight field goals and went on a 17-2 run over 3:28 to build a 15-point lead at the under-four media timeout, 66-51. They held the Eagles scoreless for over two minutes.
• The Jaguars made 12 free throws in the final five minutes of the game to help keep it out of reach.

 
NOTES

• White led all scorers in the first half with 11. He finished with a season-high 23 and five made 3-pointers.
• The Jaguars forced nine USM turnovers in the first half.
• South recorded 25 points off turnovers, one less than their season high (1/26 vs. ODU).
• Kevin Samuel led the team in +/- with a plus-27.

 
QUOTABLE
Head Coach Richie Riley:
"We just found a way to beat a really good team. You don't go through this league and win the regular season without being a really good team. Jay [Ladner] has done an incredible job with them. They have really good players. Today, especially in the second half, we were able to find a way to win. That shows how much growth our guys have made throughout the season. They continue to get better, continue to fight, and it showed in the second half. It took a great effort to beat them. We were able to extend the lead and make our free throws down the stretch, we had great value on offense and had some critical stops. But, the challenge at halftime for our guys, I told them the toughest team is going to win, and we have to be that. It's win-or-go-home time, survive and advance, that's what it's about. And our guys, not only understood that, but they embraced it, and they found a way to just be tough and gritty. So many times, where it took courage to make a shot, to drive through contact and finish plays. It was a great effort from our whole locker room, one through 12, that's who we are as a team and what we are about."

UP NEXT
South moves on to the semifinals of the Sun Belt Championship, taking on the winner of JMU and Troy. The game will be Sunday at 5 p.m. at the Pensacola Bay Center, and it will be broadcast on ESPN+, with the radio call on Sports Talk 99.5.
 
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