MOBILE, Ala. – Elijah Ormiston went off for a season-high 26 points as the South Alabama men's basketball team outlasted Marshall in a 91-82 dogfight Thursday night in the Mitchell Center. Four Jaguars finished with double figures as USA stayed tied for second place in the conference with the win, improving to 17-9 overall and 9-4 in the Sun Belt, while Marshall fell to 15-11 on the season and 8-5 in the SBC.
After the Jags opened up a 12-point lead in the second half, Marshall mounted a 13-0 run to help force overtime. Knotted at 77-77 in overtime, South Alabama buckled down and outscored Marshall 14-5 in the extra period led by five free throws and clutch layups from Barry Dunning Jr., Ormiston, and JJ Wheat to clinch the win.
Ormiston unleashed on the Thundering Herd, shooting 11-for-15 from the field, and 4-for-4 from the free throw line with five rebounds before fouling out with two minutes remaining in overtime. Dunning came up clutch the entire night, finishing with 18 points and seven rebounds while shooting 7-of-13 from the floor.
Myles Corey went a perfect 6-for-6 from the free throw line and scored 17 points while grabbing four rebounds and two assists. Wheat added 10 points and John Broom had eight crucial rebounds and four assists.
While only shooting 18.7 percent (2-13) from three-point range, South Alabama scored 52 points in the paint, shot 51.3 percent (31-60) from the field, and 81.8 percent from the charity stripe (27-33), and forced Marshall to shoot 29.2 percent (14-48) from behind the arc.
"What a battle that was," head coach Richie Riley said. " Anytime two teams like that play a game this late in the season with so much meaning it will be a battle. They have a good team and their frontcourt is as good as we'll see in our league. They threw some haymakers and I'm proud of the way our guys responded. I'm so proud of how we kept fighting and found a way to get it done. Our defense was good in overtime and that's who we normally are."
The Jags started the game solid and pushed out to a 24-17 advantage at the 10:12 mark in the first half highlighted by six early points from Ormiston.
South Alabama held a steady lead for the majority of the first half and went up 42-36 heading into halftime.
Corey and Ormiston came out of the half firing, combining for nine points to extend their advantage to double digits, 53-43, with 15:35 remaining in the second half.
South added to its advantage after Wheat spun past a defender and went coast-to-coast for a layup to earn its largest lead 60-48. The Thundering Herd rifled off a 13-0 run to jump on top for the first time in the game, 67-64 with 6:27 left on the clock.
Both teams traded the lead back and forth in the next several possessions until Ormiston rattled in a right-handed layup with 1:22 left to make the score 77-75 in favor of USA.
On the next possession, Dunning was called for a goaltending call to send the game into overtime tied up at 77-77.
South Alabama jumped on the Herd at the start of overtime as Ormiston and Wheat made driving layups to give South an 81-77 lead.
The Jags made the final seven points of the game, including five free throws to earn a crucial conference win.
Notes
- Elijah Ormiston has scored double figures in the last four games in a row.
- Myles Corey surpassed 2000 career points in tonight's game and now owns 2010 collegiate career points.
- The Jags earned new season-highs in points in the paint (52) and free throws made (27).
- South Alabama is still tied for second in the Sun Belt, as Troy, App State, and James Madison all own a 9-4 league record.
Up Next
The Jags will take on the visiting Texas State Bobcats on Saturday, Feb. 15 at 3 p.m. CT.
