Jags Lose A Heartbreaker To Arkansas 79-77
After leading at halftime 45-55 the Jags lead for 14:57 second of the second half but gave it up for the most crucial 3 seconds of the game. Domonic Tilford came out in the first half with the hot hand and ends the game with 23 to lead the Jags in scoring. Brandon Davis scored 18 and LaShun Watson scored 10 to mark the only other Jags in double digits.
USA had a chance to push the lead out to three points with 19.6 seconds left but Daniel Hayles missed both shots leaving the door open for the Razorbacks last second shot. USA was 17-25 from the foul line for the night. While USA hit on a higher percentage of foul shots, 68% to 61%, if two more had fallen for USA the game would have been tied.
Arkansas shot 55% from the three-point arc, making 12 of 22. In all of the Jaguars losses, this has been a common theme. But combine that with sloppy play in the final minutes of the game and you will typically find the recipe for a loss.
Arkansas was lead by Courtney Fortson with 25 and closely trailed by Stefan Welsh who scored 24 on the night. The largest contributor from the bench was Rotnei Clark with 12, otherwise the rest of the players, both starters and from the bench, combined for a total of 18 points.
It was an emotional game with the return of Coach Pelphrey to the Mitchell Center for the first time since his departure for Arkansas. However, the crowd was unusually quiet since the USA Outlaws were not in attendence en mass as usual. Also for the Coors Classic, the students were not crowded together as per what is usual for a typical USA home game. This factor may have worked to Arkansas’ advantage since they had a young team playing a more experienced squad.
USA will have to shake off this loss quickly because they will take the court again on Friday when Maine, Tulane and UC Davis come to town for the USA Basketball Classic at the Mitchell Center. Tulane and UC Davis will play at 5pm and the Jags will play Maine 30 minutes after that game finishes. The Tournament will wrap up on Saturday with the consolation game starting at 5pm and the championship game (hopefully with USA playing) starting 30 minutes after it ends.
Go Jags!
Jags Down Florida A&M To Advance In Tournament
South Alabama Senior Guard, Domonic Tilford, saw his first action of the season on Saturday against the Rattlers of Florida A&M at the Billy Minardi Classic in Louisville. In less than four minutes he scored 10 points and finished the game with 17 to lead the Jags in scoring. Three other Jags scored in double figures, DeAndré Coleman with 14 points, Brandon Davis 12 and Daniel Hayles 11. Additionally, Coleman and Charles Tabet came down with nine rebounds each.
The game saw several explosions of scoring from both teams. Tilford lead it off by hitting two three-pointers in less than a minute then added two more scores for his quick 10 points leading the Jags to a 14-3 lead. Then about half way through the first half, USA lead 22-13 then went on an 8-0 run in less than two minutes. With about 6 minutes left in the first half, the Jags had a 19 point lead then the Rattlers Brandon Bryant connected on two three-pointers in 33 seconds to cut the lead to 13. Coleman made a matching pair of threes to in the final minute of the first half to lead USA into the locker room with a 47-30 lead.
The Jags came out and scored the first 19 points of the second half in a six minute span. The Jags led by as much as 39 points at one point in the game and finishing with a 93-64 win.
The Rattlers shot 34% overall and were out rebounded by USA 57-27 while USA shot 54%, hit a season best 8 threes and had 22 assists on 36 field goals.
With this win, the Jags face the #3 team Louisville on Sunday in the Championship game.
This game was an improvement over last weeks loss to the Rebels, but clearly the Rattlers are not of the same caliber as Ole Miss. Improved rebounding and better outside defense are a must if the Jags want to get back to the NCAA Tournament.
Go Jags!