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!
Jags Dig Deep In Second Half To Beat FAU On The Road
The Jags came back from a 15 point deficit at one point in the second half to get a huge win over Florida Atlantic in overtime, 96-93. Three Jags scored at least 20 points in the game as well
Early in the second half the Owls took their largest lead of the game at 15. They had a double digit lead as late at the eight minute mark. But South Alabama would not give up. With about 50 seconds left, they were down by five 81-76. Bryan Sherrer would hit both of his free throw attempts with 43 seconds left to cut the lead to 81-78.
Redus would foul on the inbounds where the Owls would convert both of their attempts to extend their lead back to 5 points, 83-78, with 34 seconds left. Tim Williams would hit a layup to once again cut the lead to three with 32 seconds to go, 83-80. Lashun Watson would foul on the inbounds with 27 seconds remaining. Again the Owls would make both of their attempts, once again extending their lead to five, 85-80.
Then some Jaguar magic would happen. After an Owl timeout with 27 seconds remaining, Tim Williams would nail a three pointer with 24 seconds left to get within two points, 85-83. Gary Redus would foul to stop the clock with 19 seconds left. But Raymond Taylor would only make the first of his two shots to leave the Owls clinging to a three point lead, 86-83.
The missed free throw would be rebounded by LaShun Watson and on the other end Tim Williams would hit his second consecutive three to tie the game at 86 with 17 seconds remaining.
The Jags would force a turnover with 3 seconds remaining, but Allyn Cooks three point attempt missed and sent the game to overtime.
In overtime, the Jags would score first for their first lead of the entire game. Jags would go up by five with 27 seconds remaining but the Owls could only manage to score once more for the final score of 96-93.
This win marked Coach Ronnie Arrow’s 171st win at the helm at South Alabama in his 11 seasons. This ties Cliff Ellis for the most in school history. It also improves the Jags to 11-4 on the season and 3-0 in the Sun Belt. While FAU falls to 5-9 overall and 1-2 in the conference.
Tim Williams would lead all scorers with 23 points on 9 for 16 shooting and 2 for 4 from three point range, making the two when they counted the most. Bryan Sherrer added 21 while Allyn Cooks added 20. Gary Redus scored 11 and LaShun Watson scored 10 to round out the double digit scorers.
Coach Arrow spoke after the game on the Jags victory. “We didn’t show up ready to play, number one, for whatever reason,” he said. “Give FAU credit, they have a bunch of young guys that were hungry to play and came out and hit shots. I thought it showed a lot on our part to come back and win like that.”
Coach Arrow spoke to Lee Shirvanian about the play late to tie the game and send it into overtime. “Our guys executed and got him open and (Williams) hit the shots,” he said. “We called ‘knockoff throwback’ and he nailed the shot. It takes two to tango; Allyn did a great job of penetrating and pitching back to Tim. That’s what it’s all about – Allyn doing his job and Tim doing his job.”
The Jags will return to the Mitchell Center to host Western Kentucky on Thursday with a 5:05pm tip-off. The game will be aired on Fox College Sports.
Go Jags!