University of South Alabama Athletics

03/07/06– FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

JAGUARS GOING DANCING WITH SUN BELT CONFERENCE TOURNAMENT CHAMPIONSHIP VICTORY OVER WESTERN KENTUCKY, 95-70

Box Score Quotes Notes

MURFREESBORO, Tenn. - For the first time since 1998 the South Alabama men's basketball team will be dancing after a 95-70 victory over Western Kentucky on Tuesday night in the championship game of the 2006 Aeropostale Sun Belt Conference Tournament. USA earns the Sun Belt Conference's automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament and improves to 24-6 overall on the season. Western Kentucky falls to 23-7.

"This team has been a lot of fun to coach this year," Jaguar head coach John Pelphrey said. "We just played great defense and I think our pressure upset Western Kentucky's rhythm...Our perimeter shooting really played a factor in tonight's game."

The teams opened the game exchanging buckets for the first four minutes of the contest in front of 5,007 fans. A layup by sophomore Demetric Bennett put the Jaguars up 12-10, starting a modest 6-0 run to go 16-10 with 13:37 left. Back-to-back treys by junior Leandro Buboltz and Bennett gave USA its first double-digit lead of the night.

A layup by Anthony Winchester cut the deficit to eight points at the 10:21 mark, but another trey by senior Mario Jointer pushed the Jaguar lead to 11 and USA would not let the Hilltoppers get any closer than 10 points the rest of the game.

USA took a 45-26 lead into halftime as junior Carlos Smith hit a 3-pointer with two seconds left in the half.

The Jaguars were a blazing 56.3 percent from the field in the opening half on 18-of-32. USA was 5-of-12 from beyond the arc and 4-of-5 from the line. Senior Richard Law and Bennett each had nine points off the bench to lead the team.

Western shot just 33.3 percent in the opening half on 8-of-24 from the field. Normally a good 3-point shooting team, the Hilltoppers were just 2-of-8 from beyond the arc. WKU was a perfect 8-of-8 from the line. Elgrace Wilborn had eight points to lead the team in the opening half.

The second half opened as the Jaguars went on a 9-2 run through the first 2:09 to build a 54-30 lead with 17:51 to play. USA never relinquished the pressure and built a 28-point lead with 4:57 to play on a jumper by Bennett.

For the game, USA shot a season-best 61.8 percent on 34-of-55 from the floor. The Jags were 9-of-20 from beyond the arc and 18-of-22 from the line. USA had a game-high 22 points from Law off the bench to lead all scorers. He was 7-of-9 from the floor, 2-of-4 from beyond the arc and 6-of-6 from the line.

"We knew coming in this was a big game and we had to stay focused," Law said. "This game was played at a high level and I think we handled the pressure...we came out ready to play and showed everyone how well we could perform and we won the game."

Bennett chipped in 18 points also off the bench while Christie had 14 and Jointer had 11 to round out the double figure scoring. WKU's Winchester had a team-high 18 points, while Wilborn had 11 and Courtney Lee had 10.

Western Kentucky shot 33.8 percent for the game and never found its offensive flow. The Hilltoppers were 24-of-71 from the field, 6-of-32 from beyond the arc and 16-of-20 from the line. A big contrast to how the team played just under two months ago in a 74-73 win in Mobile.

After the game, Law earned a spot on the five-member All-Tournament team and Christie was named Most Outstanding Player. They are the first Jags represented on the All-Tournament team since 2001 when Virgil Stanescu earned a spot on the team.

"We suffered a tough loss earlier in the year to Western Kentucky and we felt we owed them," Christie said. " It was a team effort tonight to stop Western Kentucky's [Anthony] Winchester and I think we did a good job."

USA will return home and prepare for the upcoming NCAA Tournament. The seedings and brackets will be announced on Sunday at 5:30 p.m. on CBS.

"This was truely a team effort and all 11 guys contributed," Pelphrey said. "We didn't do anything special tonight, we just played Jaguar basketball."