HUNTINGTON, WV. –  A red-hot shooting display in the first half and five Jaguars in double figures pushed the South Alabama men's basketball team past Marshall 91-85 Thursday night in Cam Henderson Arena. The Jags improved to 9-8 on the year and 2-3 in Sun Belt Play, while Marshall dropped to 9-9 overall and 4-1 in conference. 

Isiah Gaiter continued to show his dominance, putting up a team-high 25 points, seven rebounds, and four assists. Tyrell Jones chipped in 23 points of his own, shooting 4-7 from three-point range, snatching four rebounds, and dishing out three assists. This is the second time the Jags have had two players finish with 20 points in the same game this season (Gaiter 24 points and Margrave 23 points vs. SIUE 11/19/23). 

Samuel Tabe provided a huge spark in his third start as Jag, contributing 18 points with a season-high five assists, two rebounds, and shooting a perfect 4-for-4 from the free throw line. 

Thomas Howell had a commanding night in the paint, scoring 11 points, pulling down eight rebounds, and swiping two steals. In his second game back from injury, Judah Brown recorded 10 points and three steals. 

The Jags had a red-hot first half, shooting 58.3 percent from the field, and hit eight first-half three-pointers, sporting a 61.5 three-point percentage into the break. Coming out of the second half, South Alabama blistered out on an 18-5 run to take a 78-57 lead, but Marshall would not go away, trimming the score down to single digits with under five minutes to play. The Jags kept their composure, drained the clock, and knocked down a flurry of free throws to clinch the victory. 

South dominated the battle in the paint the entire night, scoring 48 points and holding Marshall to 28 points. 

Game Facts (How it Happened) 

- South Alabama came out of the gates on fire as Jones splashed a mid-range jumper and a triple, and Howell hammered home a dunk to give the Jags a 7-0 lead at the 18:10 mark. 
- After Marshall answered with two jumpers, the Jags would fire back, as Gaiter, Jones, and Howell hit three-pointers on three straight possessions to jump out to an 18-5 lead with 15:54 left in the half. 
- Gaiter and Howell would hit back-to-back jumpers to extend their lead to 24-9 with 13:39 remaining. 
- Marshall stopped the bleeding and bolted out on a 20-9 spurt to pull back within two points, 33-31 at the 7:40 mark in the half. 
- The Jags leaped back on a 10-0 run off two triples from Brown and Jones and two contested jumpers from Howell and Tabe to extend their lead to 43-31. 
- Both teams battled down the final stretch of the first half as the Thundering herd trimmed the Jags' advantage down to five points, but Jones snatched back the momentum and sunk a triple at the buzzer to send South into the half with the 53-45 lead. 
- Coming out of the break, the Jags launched on an immediate 18-5 run, highlighted by a cluster of fastbreak layups from Gaiter and Jones and an And-one layup from Brown to put the Jags up 73-53 with 14:07 on the clock. 
- Following a bucket from Gaiter, the Thundering Herd would find their footing and explode on a 19-5 to climb back in the game 78-72 with 8:42 remaining. 
- Brown and Howell answered in a big way in the next few possessions as Brown went straight to the rim with force, and Howell slammed home a dunk to push back out to 83-73 with under four minutes left. 
- Marshall kept fighting, but the Jags held their composure and iced the game with a Gaiter mid-range jumper and a flurry of free throws to claim the 91-85 victory. 

Notes

• South Alabama did not trail in this contest. 

• Gaiter and Jones are the second Jaguar duo to score 20 points in the same game this season. 

• Gaiter logged his 15th double-figure scoring game and his fifth 20-point game this year. 

• Jones set a new season-high in scoring with 23 points. 

• South Alabama swiped a season-high 12 steals: Brown 3, Gaiter 2, Jones 2, Howell 2, Tabe 1, and Elijah Ormiston 1. 

• Elijah Ormiston recorded a career-high five assists. 

• The Jaguars also dished out a season-high 17 assists Ormiston 5, Tabe 5, Gaiter 4, and Jones 3.  

• The Jags shot a first-half season-high of 61.5 percent from three-point range and 58.3 percent from the field. 

• South secured its fifth positive assist-to-turnover ratio of the season. 

Head Coach Richie Riley 
On tonight's performance
" To win in this type of atmosphere was really impressive. Our guys got off to a great start and battled adversity to the finish." 

Up Next

South Alabama will return home for two big matchups as they take on conference in-state rival Troy on Thursday, Jan.18 at 7 p.m. CST, before battling Louisiana on Saturday, Jan.20, at 3 p.m. CST. 

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