MOBILE, Ala.-- South Alabama Men's Basketball shot a dominating 65.3 percent from the field and four Jaguars scored double-digits in an 84-63 trouncing of Incarnate Word Monday Night in game one of the Jaguar Classic. The Jags earned their third straight win at home and improved to 4-2 on the season, while the Cardinals fell to 3-4 overall. 

Myles Corey continued to lead the way for the Jags, finishing with 19 points on 8-of-10 shooting from the floor, 3-of-5 from downtown,  with four assists, and three steals. JJ Wheat earned a new season-high with 12 points, on 3-of-5 shooting, with five assists and three steals. 

John Broom got after it in tonight's contest, finishing with 11 points and four rebounds. Judah Brown stayed hot, picking up his fifth game in double figures this season, scoring 11 points, three rebounds, and an assist. 

Randy Brady was a jack-of-all-trades in tonight's game, scoring nine points, grabbing eight rebounds, and dishing out four assists. 

"I felt like we got better tonight," head coach Richie Riley said. " That's the goal with this group is to get better, with every practice, every weight room session, and every game. We get better, and don't take steps backwards. Tonight, we took some steps forward. We got off to a little bit of a slow start, and then we settled in defensively doing what we do best. I love this group. Tonight, our maturity level with taking coaching impressed me. We had some moments in the first half that weren't our usual brand of basketball. I got after them pretty well at halftime, and they responded incredibly well. That's what these guys do. We came out and played exactly how I would like to play. If I could draw it up that would be it."  

South Alabama got off to a slow start, falling behind 8-0 to Incarnate Word at the 16:49 mark in the first half. The Jags responded with a 13-2 run, taking a 13-10 lead topped off by a corner pocket triple from Brown and a tough finish from Elijah Ormiston at the rim. 

After UIW tied the game 23-23 with 4:38 on the clock, Corey started to heat up and scored 12 points in the final five minutes of the half to give the Jags a 39-30 at the break. 

The Jags jumped the Cardinals coming out of the half, rocketing out on a 12-3 spurt behind a corner pocket triple from Broom, a rim-rocking dunk from Brady, and a top-of-the-key three-pointer from Wheat to take a 51-33 advantage with 17:07 left on the clock. 

South would never look back from that point on and took its largest lead of the game, 79-54, with five minutes remaining, after Jayden Cooper knocked down triples in back-to-back triples in his first two field goal attempts as a Jaguar. 

Game Notes

• 65.3 percent from the field is the third-highest field goal percentage in Mitchell Center history and the highest in a single game since 2009. 
• The Jags won the rebounding battle for the fourth game this season and the third game in a row (29-23). 
• South Alabama shot 12-for-24 from three-point range. In the last two games, the Jags have made 25 combined three-pointers. 
• South has recorded 20 assists or more in back-to-back games for the first time since 2018. 
• USA owned the paint throughout the contest, scoring 36 points in the paint compared to UIW's 12. 
• All active 11 Jaguars played in tonight's game, and eight of those players put up points. 
• The Jaguars had four players with four or more assists – Wheat (5), Corey (4), Dunning Jr. (4), and Brady (4). 
• Brown has knocked down two three-pointers or more in every contest this season for South Alabama. 
• USA still has not yet logged a game with a negative assist-to-turnover ratio this year, dishing out 20 assists with 13 turnovers. 
• Corey has finished with double figures in scoring in every game this year. 

Up Next

• South Alabama will have a short turnaround as they host the Western Illinois Leathernecks on Tuesday, Nov.26  7 p.m. CT for the second game of the Jaguar Classic.

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