University of South Alabama Athletics

02/23/06– FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

JAGUARS WIN 20TH GAME OF THE SEASON, 74-65 OVER DENVER

Box Score

CONTACT: Kit Strief

MOBILE, Ala. - For the 13th time in school history and the first since the 2000-01 season the South Alabama men's basketball team won its 20th game in a season with a 74-65 win over visiting Denver on Thursday night at the Mitchell Center. The Jags improve to 20-6 overall and 11-3 in conference play, while Denver falls to 15-13 and 7-7 in conference play. Jaguar senior Mario Jointer led the team with 19 points, while Yemi Nicholson had 25 points and 10 rebounds for Denver.

The game started about one hour after its scheduled start time due to the triple overtime game between the Lady Jags and Denver. The Pioneers scored the opening bucket of the game as Antonio Porch hit a jumper 32 seconds in, but junior Carlos Smith evened the game at two on a layup at the 18:18 mark. USA went on a mini 6-0 run before Nicholson made two of his 11 free throws to end the run.

A 3-pointer by Jointer put the Jags up 9-4 with 15:17 to play as the lead fluxuated from three-to-five points for the next six minutes. Denver took its final lead of the half on a 6-0 run capped with a layup by Porch. USA's junior Leandro Buboltz ended the run with a trey at the 10:35 mark to put the Jags back up for good.

After the trey by Buboltz, USA began to open the game up a bit and increased the lead to nine points on a jumper by Smith with 4:55 to play.

Denver would not go away as it mounted a late first half surge to cut the deficit to three points at intermission with an 8-4 run the rest of the way.

Jointer had 10 points to lead the Jags in the first half, as did Nicholson for the Pioneers. USA was 12-of-30 from the field for 40 percent and Denver was 10-of-22 for 45 percent. The Jags were 3-of-10 from beyond the arc and 5-of-6 from the line. Denver countered with a 1-for-5 performance from the 3-point range and a perfect 8-of-8 from the charity stripe.

The second half began as both teams started trading buckets for the first four minutes. USA then extended its lead to eight points three times during the next three minutes.

The Jags built a 10-point cushion at 49-39 with 12:40 to play. Denver proceeded to cut the deficit down to three on three different occasions over the next four minutes, but a 9-0 run by the Jags pushed the lead back to 12 with 4:47 to play.

The Pioneers got as close as five points with 54 seconds left, but four free throws in the final minute helped seal the victory for the Jags.

USA concludes the regular season on Saturday at approximately 8:05 p.m. against North Texas. The Jags will open the 2006 Sun Belt Conference Tournament in Murfreesboro, Tenn., as the number one seed in the West Division on Sunday, Mar. 5 at 5 p.m. against a team to be determined.