MOBILE, Ala. – After trailing by 16 points at the half, the South Alabama Men's Basketball team came storming back to pull within one possession with four minutes remaining, but Western Illinois was able to hold on in the final seconds as the Jags fell 64-63 Tuesday night in the second game of the Jaguar Classic. With the loss, South falls to 4-3 overall, and Western Illinois improves to 4-3.

Despite the loss, South Alabama had four players finish with double figures in scoring, and two players recorded a double-double. Myles Corey powered the Jags offensively, finishing with 17 points and two assists. Randy Brady was a powerful presence in the paint, securing a double-double with 13 points, 11 rebounds, and four assists. Hometown kid Barry Dunning Jr. kept the Jags in the game throughout the second half, scoring 13 points, grabbing ten rebounds, and swiping three steals. 

JJ Wheat played elite defensively in the final five minutes scoring 13 points with two rebounds. 

"Disappointing effort from our guys in the first 20," said Head Coach Richie Riley. " People would say they hit 11 threes, which is crazy, but so much of it was self-inflicted. They hit a lot of tough ones, and you have to give them a ton of credit, but inside-out threes go in a lot more than the ones that touch the paint, and we gave up too many of those. We just dug ourselves such a big hole. I still love coaching these guys, and what happened tonight won't change that. We will learn from this and get better." 

South Alabama started slow and fell behind, 19-3, at the 12:12 mark. Western Illinois was red-hot throughout the second half, shooting 60 percent from the field and making 61.1 percent from three-point range with 11 first-half triples. 

The Leathernecks kept their foot on the gas and reached its largest lead of the game, 38-11, with 5:11 left in the half, before heading into the locker room with a 41-25 advantage. 

The Jags found answers in the second half and immediately blasted out on a 12-6 run highlighted by a pull-up triple from Corey and a-and-one bucket from Dunning to cut the deficit to single digits, 47-39, with 14:09 left in the game. 

Both teams battled back and forth in the next three minutes as the Leathernecks held a 56-45 advantage at the 9:33 mark. South Alabama would rocket out on a 9-0 spurt off back-to-back fast break layups from Dunning, a fading triple from Corey, and a tough second-chance layup from Brady to trim the deficit to 56-54 with 4:01 remaining. 

WIU extended its lead to 61-55 with under a minute remaining. Wheat-willed the Jags back into the game by draining a triple before ripping the ball out of Leatherneck's hand on the defensive end en route to a fast break layup to pull back within one point, 61-60, with under 20 seconds left. 

The Jags sent the Leathernecks to the foul line on the next possession,  and they converted on two free throws to push the score to a three-point game. Coming out of a Jaguar timeout, Corey found space and got an impressive three-point look to tie the game, but the ball rimmed out, clinching a 64-63 victory for the Leathernecks. 

Game Notes 

• The Jaguars struggled from behind the arc in tonight's game, shooting 19.2 percent from three-point range. 
• Four Jags scored double figures for the third straight game.
• South still has yet to record a game with a negative assist-to-turnover ratio, dishing out nine assists with five turnovers in tonight's contest. 
• South Alabama dominated the paint, scoring 32 points compared to Western Illinois's 10. 
• Brady combined for 25 rebounds and 18 assists in the last three games. 
• Corey has scored double figures in every contest this season. 
• The Jags lost the rebounding battle for the first time in four contests, grabbing 35 boards to WIU's 36. 
• South Alabama scored 16 points off of turnovers compared to seven from Western Illinois.

Up Next 

South Alabama will host its fifth straight home game against Alcorn State on Friday, Nov.29 at 10 a.m. CT. 

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