MOBILE, Ala. – The South Alabama Men's Basketball team fought hard and made a valiant effort to battle back from a 22 point-second half deficit, but they could not recover and fell 74-70 to Central Michigan in the 2024-25 season opener in the Mitchell Center Monday night.

Trailing by 15 points at halftime and 22 points in the early second half, the Jags battled hard to pull within two points with under 2.8 seconds remaining after Judah Brown dropped back-back-back triples and Elijah Ormiston sank a floating layup in the paint. However,   Central Michigan would break the Jags press and ice the game with a pair of free throws. 

"The game was a tale of two halves because we dug such a big hole for ourselves to climb out of," Head Coach Richie Riley said. We came out and were very nervous. I knew that might happen, and we tried to keep it loose all day long at shootaround. It's a lot of guys' first division one game, and it was obvious that we were feeling it, but I thought we settled in as the game went along. We've got to get better, and we can't turn the ball over like that and be able to win games like we need to." 

The Jags were led by graduate NAIA transfer guard Myles Corey, who recorded a double-double with 20 points while dishing out a career-high 11 assists. Judah Brown was clutch from behind the arc the entire night for the Jaguars, scoring 15 points on 5-of-8 shooting from downtown. Mobile native, Barry Dunning Jr. had an impressive night back home, finishing with 14 points and three rebounds. 

South Alabama's first half was riddled with 11 turnovers, which allowed Central Michigan to take a 38-23 lead into halftime. The Chippewas opened the second half by hitting four straight three-pointers to extend their lead to 49-27 into the under-16 media timeout. 

South would come roaring back as they would shoot out on a 15-3 run led by a three-pointer and bucket in traffic from Corey to cut the deficit to 52-42 with 11 minutes left. 

The Chippewas responded with a spurt of their own to take a 15-point lead with 5:11 remaining on the clock before the Jags would rocket out on an 11-2 run off of another set of back-to-back threes from Brown and two savvy defensive plays to force two clock violation turnovers.  Corey would then find Ormiston on a back door cut to the basket to make the score 72-70 with 2.8 seconds on the clock.

South Alabama pressured deep in the CMU half-court in hopes of forcing an errant pass, but it wasn't enough, and the Chippewas forced two game-winning free throws with two seconds remaining. 

NOTES 

- Myles Corey and Judah Brown set new career highs in their own perspective categories. Corey dished out 11 assists, and Brown hit five three-pointers. 

- Dunning set a new collegiate career high with 14 points and three rebounds. 

- The Jags had a neutral assist-to-turnover ratio (15-15). 

-  South Alabama shot 47.2 percent from the field compared to Central Michigan's 50.0 percent from the field. 

-  Corey's 11 assists are the most by a Jaguar since February of 2022. 

- South played at an impressive tempo throughout the night, scoring 21 fast break points to CMU's 14. 

UP NEXT

South Alabama is now set to travel to Thibodaux, La. to take on the Nicholls State Colonels on Friday, Nov.8 at 6:30 p.m.,  before battling Ole Miss on Tuesday, Nov.12. in Oxford. 

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