Official Game Statistics
South Alabama vs. Houston Baptist Game Notes
MOBILE, Ala. ? South Alabama overcame its worst shooting performance of the season Sunday afternoon, scoring the last five points of the game to survive an upset bid from Division I transitional member Houston Baptist, 66-62, at the Mitchell Center. Brandon Davis scored 15 points and grabbed eight rebounds to lead the Jaguars.
Three days after taking undefeated Vanderbilt to double-overtime, South Alabama made just 19 of 49 shot attempts (38.8 percent) from the field overall and just six of 23 three-point attempts (26.1 percent). The Jaguars trailed by as many as 10 points, their biggest deficit in five games, early in the second half before rallying over the Huskies, who fell to 1-11 with their 11th straight loss.
Daon Merritt scored 12 points despite battling foul trouble all afternoon, while Demetric Bennett hit just three field goals, all from three-point range, in 15 shot attempts, enroute to 10 points. He also added eight rebounds. Baron Sauls led three Huskies in double figures with 15 points.
The Jaguars (5-3) led 23-22 at the eight-minute mark of the first half, but surrendered eight straight points as the Huskies built a 30-23 lead with 5:50 left. South Alabama closed to within five three times in the remaining span of the half, but a late jumper left the margin at eight, 38-30, at the break.
The second half started in much the same way. The Huskies got off to an early start to push the lead to double digits, 44-34, in the first 80 seconds, but South Alabama scored the next nine points to close to within one, 44-43, by the 13:35 mark. Houston Baptist immediately responded by scoring back-to-back baskets to push the lead back to five, 48-43, with just over 12 minutes left.
South Alabama stayed within that margin for the next eight minutes, finally taking the lead 58-57 when Davis hit a layup with 3:49 remaining. Ronald Douglas added a pair of free throws, but the Huskies tied the game on a Sean Morris three, then took the lead 62-61 with 1:45 left when Morris answered a single free throw with a layup.
But Davis hit a pair of free throws with 1:05 remaining, then Domonic Tilford added two insurance tosses with 27 seconds left. The game wasn’t completely decided until Douglas made the first of his two free throw attempts with nine seconds to play.
“We simply did not come to play today, but it’s still a win,” Head Coach Ronnie Arrow admitted. “We did a poor job of getting the team ready and we stood around too much at both ends of the floor. Houston Baptist played their (tails) off today,so you have to give them credit. Brandon and Ronald Douglas hit got some key rebounds and hit clutch free throws. We did just enough to win.”
South Alabama returns to the court on Wednesday night when it hosts regional rival Southern Miss to the Mitchell Center. Tip-off is set for 7:05 p.m.
