South Alabama Men Advances To Quarterfinals With Win Over Troy
After losing both meetings to the Trojans during the regular season, South Alabama finally found a way to win at the perfect time. With strong performances by key players, including a very visibly sick DeAndre Coleman, and Troy’s inability to hit clutch shots in the final minute of the game lead to the 78-75 victory.
The game started rough for the Jaguars with the Trojans hitting two 3-pointers and four missed shots by the Jags in the first 70 seconds of the game to jump out to an 8-0 lead. Coach Arrow quickly called a 30 second timeout to regroup his team.
At the 14:54 mark of the first half the Trojans again stretched their lead to eight points 16-8 but the Jaguars would start to come alive finally. The Jags would take the lead with a 10-1 run over 2:36. But the Jaguars could not go ahead by more than a single point, trading the lead several times in the first half. However, Troy would eventually regain a narrow lead and go into the locker room up by four, 41-37.
The second half would see more close play with the lead changing hands a couple times before USA was able to push out to a four point lead with 14:37 left in the second half. However that lead would be short lived and a few more lead changes would occurr before USA would take the lead for the final time of the game at the 11:31 mark.
USA would go out to their largest lead of the game at eight points with 3:57 remaining but they could not put Troy away for good. Ronald Douglas would get fouled and he would make both of his free throws at the 2:13 mark and DeAndre Coleman would be fouled and make both of his free throw attempts at the :34 second mark, but the Jaguar free throw shooting would be abysmal for the rest of the game.
After Coleman’s free throws the Jaguars were up 77-73 and a potentially costly fouled by Bryan Sherrer allowed Troy to pull back within two points with the clock stopped. The inbounds play saw DeAndre Coleman get fouled by Kenny Ware of Troy but Coleman missed his first attempt but sunk his second to give the Jaguars a three point lead with 28 seconds to go at 78-75.
In the final 28 seconds there were three missed shots by Troy and four missed free throws by the Jaguars. However its still a win for the Jaguars.
Troy’s Brandon Hazzard had a game high of 22 points going 8-20 from the floor, 4-12 from 3-point range and 2-4 from the free-throw line. Michael Vogler and Richard Delk both added 12 for the Trojans.
Domonic Tilford scored 20 points to lead the Jaguars going 7-20 from the floor, 2-8 from 3-point range and 4-4 from the free throw line. LaShun Watson added a career high 18 points. A sick DeAndre Coleman scored 17 points. Finally Brandon Davis scored 11 points and 12 rebounds for a double-double.
The Quarterfinal games for the Men’s Bracket will have #1 Western Kentucky squaring off against #4 North Texas at 6:30pm then the #6 Jaguars will take on #2 UALR at 9:00. With two more victories the Jaguars will automatically receive a berth in the NCAA Tournament.
GO JAGS!!!!
SBC Tournament Quarterfinal Results
The South Alabama Lady Jaguars advanced to the semifinals of the Sun Belt Tournament on a strong defensive performance against Troy on Saturday. Their next opponent is the top seeded MTSU Women at 12:30pm on Monday.
Troy would take the early lead by as much as four points two times in the first nine minutes of the game but USA would take the lead for the first time in the game at the 11:06 mark of the first half. But USA’s lead would be short lived when Troy connected on a jumper less than a minute later.
USA would take the lead again when Tashley Gaines was fouled by Kirsten Smith and connected on both of her foul shots. This would spur the beginning of an 11-2 run by USA over the next four plus minutes to take a seven point advantage 20-13.
USA’s largest lead of eight points would come at the 2:53 mark of the first half and would go into the locker room with a seven point lead at 28-21.
The second half would begin with nearly two minutes of scoreless play with USA missing three shots and blocking three shots on the defensive end. USA would extend their lead to 13 points with a 7-1 run in about a minute and a half.
Troy could not cut the USA lead any closer than nine points in the second half. USA cruised to their 13 point point victory over the final minutes, winning 52-39.
Troy’s Kylie Morrissy would lead all scorers with 18 points. Alyce Shearing would be the only other Trojan to score double digits with 12 points and 11 rebounds for a double-double.
USA also had a pair of double digit scorers with both Shakira Nettles and Jessica Starling scoring 13 points each. Shaniece Brunner added 10 rebounds. Tashley Gaines also added four blocks for the majority of USA’s seven blocks for the game.
In other action Saturday:
Middle Tennessee State 82 – New Orleans 47
Arkansas-Little Rock 52 – Louisiana-Monroe 40
Denver 67 – North Texas 63
The match-ups for Monday:
#5 USA vs #1 MTSU at 12:30pm
#3 Denver vs #2 UALR at 3:00PM
Jags Punch Their Ticket To Hot Springs Arkansas With 62-60 Win
Philip Tabet at the free throw line. - Image by Doug Roberts http://www.dougstech.com/
The Jaguars never trailed in the game but saw a 16 point advantage dwindle away to one with just a minute left in the game. But the Jags held on for the win over the Privateers in the first round of the SBC Tournament to advance to Hot Springs, Arkansas. #6 seed USA will face #3 Troy on Sunday at 9pm.
Domonic Tilford would open the game with a 3-pointer but was answered by UNO’s Jaroslav Tyrna’s 3-pointer seconds later. That would be the only tie of the game. The Jaguars would then go on a 13-4 run over the next five and a half minutes. But the privateers would close the gap with an 11-4 run of their own to get within two points at 20-18. However this would be as close as they would get for the remainder of the first half.
Ronald Douglas would visibily hurt his right shoulder in the first half on the offensive side and would have to come out with pain. When leaving the court he would soon go to the locker room and would not see any more action in the first half. His replacement, Philip Tabet, would spur the Jaguars 15-3 run over seven minutes when he hit a jumper and was fouled by UNO’s Jahmal Burroughs. Tabet sunk his free-throw as well. The Jaguars would go into the locker room with a 13 point lead.
A Domonic Tilford layup early in the second half would extend the Jaguar lead back to 15. But UNO would continue to fight over the next five minutes to cut the Jaguar lead down to eight at 43-35 with a 9-2 run. However the Jaguars would answer the privateers with a 12-4 run over about seven minutes for the largest Jaguar lead of the game at 16 points with 8:29 left in the game.
But when the Jags when up by 16, their shooting went cold. going over four minutes without a basket or free-throw. The Privateers would cut the lead to a mere three points, 56-53, with 3:27 left in the game with a 14-1 run. During the run the Jags missed three shots and DeAndre Coleman would miss two free-throws before Domonic Tilford would sink one of his two free throw attempts to end the scoreless drought.
DeAndre Coleman would a jumper at the 2:54 mark to give USA a key five point advantage. LaShun Watson would foul UNO’s Kyndall Dykes with Dykes making both free throws. With the jaguar lead now three points, Domonic Tilford would foul Justin Archie with 1:01 left in the game. Archie would sink both free throws to cut the Jaguar lead to one point. A Brandon Davis layup and foul with 33 seconds left would extend the lead to three points once again. Davis would miss his free throw attempt to extend the lead to four points.
UNO’s Kyndall Dykes attempted a 3-pointer with 25 seconds left and missed the shot. Brandon Davis got the rebound and was fouled by Jaroslav Tyrna to send Davis to the line again. Davis misses both attempts and UNO would come away with the rebound and Davis would foul T.J. Worley for his 5th personal foul. Worley would make his first attempt but missed his second and would miss their tip-in attempt to only cut the jaguar lead to two points, 60-58 with 12 seconds left.
Jaroslav Tyrna would be forced to fould Domonic Tilford with 7 seconds remaining to send him to the line. After making both free throws to seal the victory UNO would still try a desperation 3-pointer but missed with 4 seconds left. Kyndall Dykes would make a final shot as time expired for the final score of 62-60.
UNO’s Kyndall Dykes would lead all scorers with 17 points and 10 rebounds for a double-double. T.J. Worley would be the only other Privateer in double digits with 15 points.
Domonic Tilford would lead USA in scoring with 13 points while LaShun Watson would add 11 and Ronald Douglas would add 11 points and five rebounds. Philip Tabet, who gave an emotional burst in the first half would end the night with 6 points and 5 rebounds.
USA lead the privateer in shooting 47%-38% from the floor, and 40%-33% from 3-point range. But the Privateers lead the free-throw percentage 76%-61%. The Jaguars also lead with points in the paint 28-22, points off turnovers 15-12 and second chance points 13-6. UNO would lead fast break points 7-4 and scoring from the bench would be even at 21 points each.
In his last four game, DeAndre Coleman has come away with 10 rebounds each time to gather his 500th during the game. He leads the conference in rebounding with 8.3 per game. The Jaguars are now 15-1 when leading at halftime for the season and are 9-0 when leading a Sun Belt team at half time.
Three more wins and the Jaguars will be in the NCAA Tournament. GO JAGS!!!!
Men And Women Both In Action Tonight In SBC First Round Games
The 5th seeded Lady Jaguars kick off the night of basketball with a 5:00pm tip-off at the Mitchell Center when they host #12 seeded Florida International in the first round of the Sun Belt Tournament.
The 6th seeded men’s team will host the #11 seeded New Orleans Privateers for a scheduled 7:30pm tip-off for their first round match-up of the Sun Belt Tournament. New Orleans is a 12 point favorite currently.
Winners of these games will advance to the remaining rounds of the tournament that will be held in Hot Springs, Arkansas from March 7th through March 10th. The Women’s Championship game will be televised on ESPN-Plus. The Quarterfinals games of the Men’s bracket will be available on ESPN-Plus with the Championship game being aired on ESPN2.
As for the NCAA Tournament, its simple. Win four in a row and you’re in! Winners of the SBC Championship receive an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament
So come out to the Mitchell Center and help the Jaguars start their run to the Tournament off on the right foot. USA Students receive free tickets to the game so you do not have an excuse not to come.
GO JAGS!!!
USA Men And Women Both Host Teams In First Round Of SBC Tournament
On Sunday afternoon both the Jaguar Men and Women learned that they will host teams for the first round of the Sun Belt Tournament.
The Lady Jaguars will host Florida International at 5pm on Wednesday to open a double header in the Mitchell Center. The second half of the double header will have the Men hosting New Orleans with a tip-off scheduled for 7:30pm.
The Lady Jags regular season came to a close on Saturday with a 19-9 record and going 10-8 in the Sun Belt. They were in a tie with Denver, Troy, Western Kentucky and Arkansas State. The Sun Belt’s tie-breaking system seeded USA 5th and will host the 12 seeded Florida International.
The Men’s team finished the season on Saturday night with a 17-12 record overall and 10-8 in the SBC. USA finished tied with Middle Tennessee for 5th place but was on the losing end of the tiebreaker to be seeded 6th in the tournament and will host the 11th seeded New Orleans Privateers.
The winners of these match-ups will advance to Hot Springs, Arkansas for the rest of the Sun Belt Tournament held March 7th through March 10th with the Men’s Championship game being broadcast on ESPN2 and the Women’s Championship game being broadcast on ESPN-Plus.
Come out and SUPPORT YOUR JAGS!!!
Jaguars Lose On Poor Shooting And Turnovers
The Jaguars shot only 36% and had 17 turnovers in their loss to Troy in the regular season finale.
Troy started the game with an 11-3 run over the first six and a half minutes to take an eight point lead. A three-pointer by Domonic Tilford would spur the Jaguars to a short rally to cut the Trojan lead and tie the game at 16 about half way through the first half.
The Trojans would break the tie and push out to a seven point lead with 5:31 left in the first half. Again the Jaguars mounted a rally attempt and would cut the lead down to three, 29-26 with 2:52 left in the opening half. But Troy would again extend their lead to seven points, have it cut down to four points and extend it to seven once more just before halftime, 36-29.
Domonic Tilford would open the second half with a 3-pointer but would still see Troy’s lead grow to eight points four minutes into the second half. Yet another three pointer by Domonic Tilford would shrink the Trojan lead to four, 45-41 with 13:55 left in the second half. But Troy would answer with a 6-0 run to stretch their lead to the largest of the game, 51-41.
After trading baskets, the Jaguars would make another run at the Troy lead by going on a 7-0 run over three minutes to get within three points of the lead at 53-50. Troy would once again hit a 6-1 run over a minute and a half to lead by eight, 59-51. The Jaguars would make one last run for the game going 7-2 over four minutes and seventeen seconds to get within three points with 25 seconds left. LaShun Watson was forced to foul with 19 seconds left with Troy making both attempts to make the Trojan lead five points, 63-58. Domonic Tilford missed a three-point attemp with 14 seconds left forcing Ronald Douglas to foul when Troy came away with the rebound.
Domonic Tilford led the Jags in scoring with 17 on 5-17 shooting from the floor, 5-12 from 3-point range and going 2-2 from the free-throw line. Bryan Sherrer was the only other Jag to score in double digits with 12, he went 4-7 from the floor, missed both 3-point attempts but hit all four of his free-throw attempts.
Troy had four players in double digits. Michael Vogler scored 13, Brandon Hazzard had 12, and Antywan Jones and Mario Telfair both had 10 for the Trojans.
Troy outscored the Jags in the paint 36-20, off turnovers 17-6 and in fast break points 10-4. Troy also outshot the Jags 45% – 36% from the floor. While the Jags out rebounded Troy 45-34, they turned the ball over 17 times. However the Jaguar defense held Troy to 15 points below their season average and held them 31 lower than their previous matchup in the Mitchell Center.
Coach Arrow remarked after the game, “Offensively we just didn’t make enough plays. We didn’t attack the zone good, we had some guys that didn’t play well tonight and now we’ve got to go back to the drawing board. We have to have all of our guys show up ready to play for the tournament.”
Domonic Tilford is now seventh place in USA single season history with 74 three-point field goals in a season. DeAndre Coleman is also one rebound shy of 500 for his career at South Alabama.
USA drops to 17-12 for the season and 10-8 in the Sun Belt while Troy improves to 19-11 overall and 14-4 in the SBC. South Alabama will await the announcement of their opponent in the opening round of the Sun Belt Conference on Sunday.
GO JAGS!!
Jags Notch Fourth In A Row By Downing Louisiana-Monroe
Two Jaguars ended the night with double-doubles to lead USA to their fourth victory in a row and sixth in the last seven games. USA improves to 17-11 overall and 10-7 in the Sun Belt Conference.
ULM scored first in the game on two free-throws but USA would keep it close throughout the first four and a half minutes of the game. But with 15:25 left in the opening half with the Jags down by one at 8-9 they would go on a 18-4 run over the next seven plus minutes to take a 13 point lead with 7:47 left in the opening half. But ULM would slowly chip away at the Jaguar lead until they were within three points with 43 seconds to go in the half. A tip-in by DeAndre Coleman with time expiring took USA into the locker room with a five point advantage, 35-30.
USA’s lead would get out to as much as seven points in the opening minutes of the second half until a short 6-0 run over three minutes put the Jaguars back out to a double digit lead, 46-35.
USA and ULM would trade baskets over the next seven minutes until USA would finally push out to a 15 point lead with just under eight minutes left. Over the next four minutes they would methodically close the gap to seven, 63-56, with 3:48 to go in the game but that would be as close as they could get in the final minutes. A few traded baskets later and the Jags would win by the same margin 67-60.
DeAndre Coleman would lead all scorers with 21 points on 9-13 shooting, missing his only 3-point attempt and going 3-8 from the free-throw line but added 10 rebounds for a double-double while still blocking three shots. Brandon Davis would add 16 points and 14 rebounds for another double-double for USA. Domonic Tilford was the only other USA player in double-digits scoring with 11. Ronald Douglas also blocked four shots to extend his streak of consecutive games with a blocked shot to 12.
Louisiana-Monroe had three players in double digits: Lawrence Gilbert scored 14 and Malcolm Thomas and Kenneth Averette both scored 11.
The Jags shot 47% from the floor compared to ULM’s 35% and the Jags out rebounded them 41-34. USA outscored them in the paint 42-20, off turnovers 15-10, and fast break points 8-4.
When asked about the teams recent success Coach Arrow answered, “It’s defense. Our guards have bought into better guarding their man. Before, all of their guys were getting to the hole, and our guys were shot-blocking. Now, they’re doing a better job of containing, knowing that if they get by our post is there to shot-block. What Ronald Douglas does for this team, he alters so many shots. It’s good to know when they do get by our guards, we have the shot-blockers back there to guard the hole.”
The Jaguars regular season closer is scheduled for Saturday in Troy, Alabama with a 7:30pm tip-off.
GO JAGS!!!
Jaguars Come From Behind For Win Over Middle Tennessee
Jaguars turn up the defense and rally from nine points down for their third consecutive victory. With this win the Jaguars improve to 16-11 overall and 9-7 in the Sun Belt Conference while the Blue Raiders fall to 15-12 overall and 8-7 in the Sun Belt Conference.
MTSu started the game with a 7-0 run in the first three minutes of the game. The Jaguars would follow that up with a 6-0 run of their own in the next three minutes. Both teams would trade baskets over the next five minutes until USA finally gained the lead on a dunk by Ronald Douglas at the 9:01 mark of the first half.
The Jaguar lead would get out to as much as three points, 16-13, before MTSU would come back to regain the lead and go into halftime with a 26-23 advantage.
The beginning of the second half started simlarly to the first half with MTSU jumping out with an 8-2 runover the first three minutes. This run would put the Blue Raiders in front by nine points, 34-25, with 17:06 left in the second half. Early in the second half, LaShun Watson took an elbow to the mouth. It resulted in Watson receiving five stitches and he did not return to the game.
Down 41-33 with 11:25 remaining in the second half the Jaguars would regain the lead and control of the game with a 15-2 run over a five and a half minute run to take a five point lead. Kevin Kanaskie tried to keep the Blue Raiders in the game with a 3-pointer, cutting the lead back down to two, but USA would not let them get closer than that moment the rest of the way. The Jaguars would win the game 63-57.
Coach Arrow remarked about the game, “That was a very, very physical game. Both teams came out and got after it. The difference in the game was we held them to 36 percent and we had nine blocked shots. When you have that many blocked shots from guys getting to the hole, that’s almost like a turnover.”
Freshman phenom CJ Garner lead all USA scorers with 15 points for a career high, with 13 of them coming in the second half. More impressively he hit 5-6 free-throws in the final 38 seconds to help seal the victory. Coach Arrow remarked about Garner, “C.J. is growing up; he’s not a freshman anymore, We call him an advanced freshman, with all the experience that he’s gotten. He ran his team tonight very well.”
Three other Jaguars scored 11 points each: Domonic Tilford who went 6-6 fron the free throw line and made the only Jaguar 3-pointer for the game. DeAndre Coleman added 11 points, 10 rebounds and four blocked shots for his seventh double-double of the season and his ninth of his career. Ronald Douglas scored 11 points and had five blocked shots but only made 5-12 free throw attempts for the game.
MTSU had a pair of players score 15 points: Desmond Yates and Memetrius Green with only one 3-pointer between them. Kevin Kanaskie was the only other player in double digits for the Blue Raider with 11 being held to three 3-pointers for the contest.
USA held MTSU to 36% shooting for the game and 4-13 for the game from beyond the 3-point arc. But USA dominated the free-throw line going 28-42 while MTSU went 5-12. MTSU obviously had foul problems with Yates fouling out with 6:21 remaining in the game and another bench player fouling out in the game plus two other starters with four fouls each.
This win moves USA over Middle Tennessee to the 3rd position in the eastern division of the Sun Belt Conference, a full three games behind Troy for second place in the eastern division.
The Jaguars return home for their regular season finale when they host Louisiana-Monroe for a 7:05pm match-up in the Mitchell Center.
So come out and SUPPORT YOUR JAGS!!!
Jaguars Win In Impressive Fashion Over FAU
The Jaguars showed what they can do when they are hitting on all cylinders. They never trailed during the game and shot over 67% from the floor for the contest in their fourth consecutive home victory to get them above .500 for the season in the Sun Belt Conference.
Throughout the first ten minutes of the first half, FAU would not let USA get too far from their sights and would close the gap to within one point. But with a 15-3 run the Jags would never look back for the rest of the half gaining a 15 point advantage several times in the final four minutes of the half, going into the locker room up 46-31.
The second half would see both teams trading baskets but USA would eventually inch out to a 21 point lead at 60-39 at the 14:13 mark in the second half. FAU would not give up, battling back with a 15-5 run in just under four minutes to close the lead to 11 points, 65-54.
FAU and the Jaguars would continue trading shots until FAU closed the lead by one more point to 10, 77-67, with 4:48 remaining in the game. But USA would finish the game with a 14-3 run for the final score of 91-70.
Coach Arrow said after the game, “I thought tonight that we went ahead and put them away. We shared the ball really well tonight. Twenty-six assists is super. We executed our plays and in transition. When we took the lead early, our defense got steals, layups and deflections. We played with a lot of energy to start the game.”
Florida Atlantic’s Paul Graham III lead all in scoring with 27 points on 10-22 shooting, going 3-8 from 3-point range and hitting all four of his free-throw attempts. Shavar Richardson added 24 points as well as being the only other player in double-digits for FAU.
Brandon Davis lead the way for the Jags with 23 points on 9-10 shooting from the floor and 5-6 from the free-throw line, he did not attempt any 3-point shots. Domonic Tilford scored 17 points hitting 3 of the Jaguars six 3-pointers for the game. LaShun Watson scored 12 points and had a tie for the most assists for the game with DeAndre Coleman with 7. Bryan Sherrer scored 11 and CJ Garner added 10 points to round out the double digit scorers.
USA as a team has 8 blocks and 13 turnovers compared with FAU’s one block and 9 forced turnovers. USA led with 46 points in the paint to FAU’s 20 and 27 fast break points to FAU’s 2.
The Jaguars are back in action on Thursday when they travel to Middle Tennessee State for a 7pm tip-off against the Blue Raiders who won their previous match-up at the Mitchell Center 82-67. A win against MTSU would move USA over MTSU into 3rd place in the Eastern Division.
GO JAGUARS!
USA Win On Buzzer Beating Shot Against FIU
South Alabama finally got to celebrate after a buzzer beating shot this season. Over the previous several weeks, USA have been on the losing end of the last second shot brigade but LaShun Watson nailed a 3-pointer as the clock expired to give the Jaguars a much needed 66-65 win Thursday night at the Mitchell Center.
USA would score first on a Ronald Douglas layup but it would be FIU who would gain the lead for the next three minutes of the game. A jumper by Brandon Davis would tie the game again at the 16:41 mark.
Over the next five minutes a team would get a small lead then the other would come back on a short run to retake a short lead. This was until the Jaguars went on an 11-0 run over a four minute span to firmly take the lead by eight at 25-17 and would not give it up again the rest of the first half. FIU would close the gap to three points with a 3-pointer with 2 seconds left in the first half to go into the locker room down 35-32.
The second half would start with USA shooting 7 for 11 from the floor while holding FIU to only 2 for 10 and taking a 10 point lead in the meantime. USA held a 10 point lead three times in the second half, once at the 11:14 mark, the second at the 9:26 mark and the third at the 5:34 mark.
However the lead would not last with FIU going on a 10-2 run with back-to-back-to-back 3-pointers by Alex Galindo while USA could only muster two free-throws during that stretch. USA was then up 62-60 when CJ Garner was fouled with 1:15 left in the game, he only made one of this two shots. Then a layup by FIU shrunk the lead to one with 1:07 left and FIU called a 30 second time out.
Watson missed a jumper with 43 seconds left that would have put USA up by three points but FIU would come away with the rebound and call another time out with 33 seconds left. Coming off the time out, FIU’s Alex Galindo hit a 3-pointer with 13 seconds left forcing USA to take a time out with 7 seconds left to set up a game tieing or game winning play.
Coach Arrow said after the game, “It was a flare play for (Dominic) Tilford, and Bryan (Sherrer) had enough about him to see they jammed him, but he found LaShun (Watson) and he nailed the shot.”
FIU’s Alex Galindo lead all in scoring with 26 points on 8-15 field goal shooting while hitting 8-11 from 3-point range and both free-throw attempts. Russell Hicks added 15 points and 10 rebounds for a double-double. Tremayne Russell also added 12 points in the losing cause.
LaShun Watson lead USA in scoring with 17 no 7-11 field goal shooting, going 2-2 from the free-throw line and hitting his only attempt at a three for the game at the buzzer. Brandon Davis added 14 points and 11 rebounds for a double-double. Ronald Douglas added another 10 points in the win. Davis’ 10th double-double of his career and leads all active USA players in that category as well as moving into 9th place all-time in rebounding in USA history.
Again, poor free-throw shooting by USA combined with 10-19 3-point shooting by FIU made for a close game.
USA improves to 14-11 for the season and evens their Sun Belt record to 7-7 while FIU falls to 10-17 and 5-9 in the SBC. USA will get a day off before hosting Florida Atlantic on Valentines day with a 7:05pm tip-off at the Mitchell Center.
So go out for an early Valentines Dinner with your special someone and then head over to the Mitchell Center to support your JAGUARS!!