12/17/05–
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
JAGUARS KNOCK OFF NO. 25 HOUSTON IN SEVENTH
ANNUAL COORS CLASSIC
First Win Over Top 25 Team Since 1997-98 Season
CONTACT:
Kit Strief
Box
Score
MOBILE,
Ala. - The University of South Alabama men’s basketball
team dug deep on Saturday night in the seventh annual Coors Classic
as it defeated No. 25 Houston, 66-62 in front of a season-high and
raucous crowd of 5,688 at the Mitchell Center in the first of two
games. It was the first win for the Jaguars over a ranked team since
USA defeated Washington 69-52 on Dec. 22, 1997 in Jaguar Gym. USA
improves to 7-1 on the year and increases its winning streak to
six games, the best since 2000. Houston falls to 4-2 on the year.
With the victory,
USA is the first Sun Belt team to defeat a ranked opponent since
Nov. 23, 2002 when Louisiana-Lafayette beat No. 12 Mississippi State,
79-76.
“I feel
very fortunate to get the win,” Jaguar head coach John Pelphrey
said. “We have a lot of respect for Coach Penders and his
team. Both teams got after each other defensively and the competitiveness
was outstanding.”
USA had four
players in double figures lead by senior Richard Law with 12 and
senior Chey Christie with 12. Senior Michael Phillips and sophomore
Demetric Bennett came off the bench for 11 and 10, respectively.
Bennett was named the game’s Most Valuable Player by the media
after he scored all 10 of his points, five-of-seven rebounds and
two key 3-pointers in the second half.
Houston was
lead by a game-high 18 points from Jahmar Thorpe, 17 from Lanny
Smith and Oliver Lafayette, the team’s leading scorer averaging
20.0 points a game, had 13 points.
The game opened
with Houston taking the early lead, jumping out to a 10-4 lead through
the first four minutes. After a media timeout, USA went on a 6-0
run to tie the game at 10, before a tip-in by Sergio de Randamie
put the Cougars up 12-10.
A 3-pointer
by Law gave USA its first lead of the game since the opening moments
at 13-12 with 11:32 to play.
For the next
3:22 neither team scored until a breakaway layup by Brian Latham
and a steal and layup by Smith on back-to-back possessions put Houston
up 16-13. USA did not score a field goal in 5:13 until Phillips
laid one in at the 6:24 mark to put USA back up 17-16. Neither team
got up by more than four points the rest of the half.
USA had a four
point advantage with 2:05 remaining, but two layups and a free throw
in just under one minute tied the game four the fourth time in the
half. A trey by Smith just before the buzzer gave Houston a 30-27
lead at halftime.
For the half,
USA was 6-of-20 from the field for 30 percent, while Houston was
13-of-39 for 33.3 percent. Both teams were 2-of-10 from beyond the
arc, but USA was 13-of-18 from the line compared to Houston’s
2-of-6. Smith led Houston with 12 points, while USA’s Phillips
had nine points on 3-of-3 from the field off the bench. Jointer
pulled down seven rebounds in the half.
The second half
began with Houston jumping out to an early five point lead with
16:34 to play, but the Jaguars had the answer again, going on a
7-0 run to take a 39-37 lead on a 3-pointer by Law with 14:49 to
play.
A pair of buckets
by Thorpe put Houston up three at 42-39 with 13 to play, but the
first of two key 3-pointers by Bennett tied the game at 42 with
12:25 left.
“Coach
gave us an emotional speech at halftime about staying together as
a team and we came out and did that in the second half,” Bennett
said. “Once we tied it up, we knew we had to dig in, allow
no second shots, rebound and defend”
Lafayette’s
layup with 9:14 put Houston up 44-42, but a coast to coast layup
by junior Carlos Smith tied the game at 44 with 8:40 to play. Houston
again got out to a three point lead on free throws, but two free
throws by junior Jason McGriff cut the deficit back to one with
8:04 left.
A jumper by
Christie tied the game at 48 with 7:54 to play the second trey by
Bennett off a steal by McGriff gave USA the lead for good at 51-48
with seven and change to play.
Houston called
a timeout with 6:55 to play as Penders found the game beginning
to slip away.
A jumper by
Bennett put the Jaguars up five, but Houston had the answer as an
emphatic dunk by Ramon Dyer cut the deficit to one with 4:45 to
play.
On the ensuing
Jaguar possession, Christie hit his only 3-pointer of the night
pushing the lead back to four with 4:25 left. A pair of free throws
by Bennett pushed the lead to six with just over three minutes left.
Houston cut
it back to four with a jumper by Lafayette, but Christie answered
with a jumper seconds later to push the lead back to six with 2:22
left.
USA went 6-of-8
from the line in the final two minutes to seal the 66-62 victory
as Houston got as close as three with 49 seconds left, but Law calmly
knocked down a pair of free throws to push the lead back to five.
With 20 seconds. After a timeout, Latham hit a jumper, but Jointer
made 1-of-2 tosses to make the final score.
“Both
teams played hard,” Houston head coach Tom Penders said. “USA
deserved the win, they made more free throws and we didn’t.”
USA continues
at home with a game against Louisiana-Monroe (4-6) on Tuesday night
at the Mitchell Center at 7:05 p.m. The Jaguars defeated Louisiana-Monroe
this past Wednesday, 81-71 in Monroe. USA then travels to instate
rival Alabama State on Thursday, Dec. 22 at 7 p.m. in Montgomery.
USA defeated ASU 82-65 in the Mitchell Center on Nov. 25.
“In the
first half, we couldn’t handle them upfront,” Pelphrey
said. “In the second half, were able to defend better and
rebound. It came down to sticking together and being able to perservere.”
The nightcap
of the Coors Classic saw Florida State defeat Bowling Green, 71-60.
The Seminoles improved to 6-1 on the year, while Bowling Green fell
to 2-6. Florida State had three players in double figures led by
14 points from Todd Galloway and a double-double 12 points and 11
rebounds by Alexander Johnson.
Bowling Green’s
Martin Samarco scored a game and career-high 27 points to earn Most
Valuable Player for the game. He was 9-of-22 from the field and
7-16 from beyond the arc.
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