Jags Advance To Face #1 Troy In The Sun Belt Tournament
The ninth seeded South Alabama Jaguars opened up the Sun Belt Tournament against the eighth seeded Florida Atlantic with a win on Saturday. While the Owls are sent home, the Jags advance in the SBC Tournament and get one step closer to the SBC title game.
The beginning to the game was quite rough for the Jags, committing seven turnovers and only scoring two points in the opening three minutes of the match up. However after the first five minutes passed and the Owls lead was stretched to six points, the Jags woke up and began playing basketball again.
The Jags, lead by Tim Williams scoring, would rally the Jags and take the lead. FAU would be held to shooting only 20% from the floor for the half and would miss its last 10 three point attempts. They also went over five minutes without a single point. But Sherrer would end the half a four point play when FAU fouled him while making his three point attempt.
The second half was a bit like cruise control for the Jags for the most part. They would extend their lead out to 14 at one point in the second half. However, this would not hold. The Owls would get back into the game with a 15-4 run to close the Jaguar lead to a mere three points, 46-43.
The Jags would score on back to back possessions to regain a seven point lead, However the Owls would not give up scoring eight consecutive points to regain the lead by one with 27.4 seconds left.
The Owls would foul twice trying to force a turnover, however their number of team fouls did not send the Jags to the line. Bryan Sherrer would nail a jumper with five seconds left to give the Jags the final score of the game, 52-51.
The Owls tried a desperation shot to try to win the game, however it was off its mark and time expired.
Bryan Sherrer lead the Jags with 21 points on 8-11 shooting and 2-3 from outside the arc. Close behind though was Tim Williams who scored 12. No other Jags were in double digits.
After the game Coach Arrow said, “It was a very close game. We survived and get to go on and there are a lot of schools that wish that they were still playing. Our guys played hard. I was proud of our guys – they played hard and hit the big bucket at the end.”
With the win the Jags improve to 17-14 on the season and will face the #1 seed Troy Trojans on Sunday with tip-off scheduled for 6:45pm.
Go Jags!
