MOBILE, Ala. – The South Alabama men's basketball team held off Southern Miss 73-70 to clinch the season sweep and secure their fourth straight win in the rivalry Wednesday night in the Mitchell Center. The Jags even their record at 15-15 overall and 7-10 in Sun Belt Play, while Southern Miss falls to 16-14 on the season and 9-8 in conference play this season. 

Julian Margrave led the Jags with an electric 18 points on 6-10 shooting from downtown with a rebound and a steal. Samuel Tabe collected another game in double figures, scoring 13 points with three rebounds and three steals. 

Judah Brown, Marcus Millender, and Tyrell Jones all added eight points of their own. The Jags saw significant production from their bench players as every active player for South Alabama logged points, collecting 24 total bench points.

With seven assists in tonight's game, Freshman Marcus Millender passed the 100 assists mark in his career. Only two other players in South Alabama basketball history have recorded more assists in their Freshman season (1982: Joe Karr 138, 1985: Jeff Hodge 106, 2024: Marcus Millender 102)  

Southern Miss had four players finish with double figures, but the Jags held the Golden Eagles to 15.8 percent from three-point range and won the rebounding battle. 

After entering halftime knotted at 36, South Alabama made its first nine shots in a row to take a commanding 15-point lead with 15 minutes to play. Southern Miss answered with a deep run to regain the advantage, but South turned it on when it mattered most as Millender and Tabe hit clutch shots down the stretch to secure the victory. 

Game Facts (How it Happened) 

• Margrave wasted no time getting things started for the Jags as he hit three straight three-pointers to take a 9-2 opening advantage at the 17:28 mark. 
• The Golden Eagles found a response and tied the game at 11-11 with 12:59 left on the clock. 
• Southern Miss took its first lead of the game, 17-15, with 11:07 left in the half. 
• South Alabama rocketed out on a 7-0 run as Tabe and Gaiter drained layups, and Brown knocked down a corner triple to jump in front 22-17 at the 9:56 mark. 
• USM answered again and jumped on top 25-24 with 7:07 remaining in the first half. 
• Both teams battled back and forth down the stretch as Kearing would hammer home two dunks and a layup, and Millender hit a turnaround jumper in the final minute. The Golden Eagles would not let up and made tough shots down the stretch to even the game at 36-36 at the end of the first half. 
• South jumped on Southern Miss coming out of the half, slingshotting out on a 23-8 run as Margrave splashed three more triples, and Millender and Tabe both cashed in on tough jumpers, giving the Jags a 59-44 lead, with 14:57 on the clock. 
• The Golden Eagles found their footing coming out of a media timeout and leaped out on a 19-2 spurt to regain the lead 63-61 with 3:56 remaining in the game. 
• Scrambling to find offense, Millender came back down on the other end of the court and drained a corner triple to kill the Southern Miss momentum, grabbing the lead right back, 64-63. 
• After forcing a Southern Miss turnover, Thomas Howell sunk a layup, and Brown splashed a three-pointer to push the score back out to 69-65 with 2:10 left in regulation. 
• The Jags would take a 71-67 lead with 31 seconds remaining, but the Southern Miss would make a clutch three-pointer on the other end to trim the advantage to 71-70 with 23 seconds left. 
• Southern Miss would foul and send Tyrell Jones to the free-throw line, where he drained both attempts, pushing the score to 73-70 with 20 seconds on the clock and forcing a USM timeout. 
• Coming out of the timeout, Southern Miss drew up a play for a game-tying triple, but their player stepped out of bounds after the inbound pass, sealing the win for the Jags. 

Notes

• South Alabama is now in a four-way tie for seventh place in the league standings heading into Friday's matchup against ULM. The bottom four teams in the 14-team league must play on the tournament's first day, with seeds 5-10 getting a bye until next Thursday and seeds 1-4 not playing until next Saturday's quarterfinals. 
• South Alabama has won four out of the last five matchups against Southern Miss. 
• With seven assists in tonight's game, Freshman Marcus Millender passed the 100 assists in his career. Only two other players in South Alabama basketball history have recorded more assists in their Freshman season (1982: Joe Karr 138 Assists, 1985: Jeff Hodge 106, 2024: Marcus Millender 102) 
• The Jags won the rebounding battle for the 11th time this season. 
• Margrave tied the team season-high in three-pointers made in a game with six. He has made 50 triples this season, ranking him seventh in the Sun Belt Conference. 
• Tabe has scored double figures in the last seven contests in a row. 
• Every active player for South Alabama logged points in tonight's game. 
• South had a season-low nine free throw attempts. 

Head Coach Richie Riley 

On the Rivalry Victory

" It certainly wasn't pretty, but sometimes wins aren't pretty. As coaches we want everything to be a beautiful masterpiece, where we can sit around and talk about how good of a Coach we are and how polished your team is, but it's not the case most of the time in hoops. We made a mess of some things late and turned the ball over. We got that 15-point lead and they sold out with pressure, trying to get a whole bunch of steals, and it worked. Our guards are going to need to learn how to deal with that better, but our guys had the toughness and the resolve to fight through it and finish it off. I was impressed with our resilience and fight, and I hope we can carry that over into Pensacola next week. 

Guard Samuel Tabe

On how big a win like this before the conference tournament

" It was a great crowd. We appreciate all of the Jag fans coming out and supporting us. This is a huge win going into the conference tournament. It gives us more momentum. We have just been taking things day by day, and we got it done tonight and need to get one on Friday for senior day." 

Forward Julian Margrave

On his performance from three-point range tonight

" It was a great start. I hit my first couple of threes, and it got things started. I just have to thank my teammates for putting me in a good position to succeed." 

Up Next

The Jags will close the regular season against ULM on Friday, March 1 at 7 p.m. South will honor its five seniors, Judah Brown, Isiah Gaiter, Tyrell Jones, Marshall Kearing, and Samuel Tabe. 

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