Bryan Sherrer hit a jump shot with five seconds left, and ninth-seeded South Alabama held on to beat eighth-seeded Florida Atlantic 52-51 in the first round of the Sun Belt Conference men’s basketball tournament on Saturday.
The win sends the Jaguars, now 17-14, into a matchup with top-seeded Troy on Sunday, with tipoff set for 6:45 p.m. Florida Atlantic was eliminated.
Slow Start, First-Half Rally
South Alabama struggled early, committing seven turnovers and scoring only two points in the first three minutes. Florida Atlantic built a six-point lead in the first five minutes.
Led by Tim Williams’ scoring, the Jaguars rallied to take the lead. Florida Atlantic shot 20 percent from the field in the first half, missed its last 10 3-point attempts of the half and went more than five minutes without scoring.
Sherrer closed the half with a four-point play, making a 3-pointer while being fouled and converting the free throw.
Owls Fight Back
South Alabama stretched its lead to 14 points in the second half before Florida Atlantic answered with a 15-4 run that cut the margin to 46-43.
The Jaguars scored on consecutive possessions to push the lead back to seven, but the Owls scored the next eight points and went ahead 51-50 with 27.4 seconds remaining.
Sherrer Delivers the Winner
Florida Atlantic fouled twice trying to force a turnover, but the Owls were not yet in the bonus, so South Alabama did not go to the free-throw line. Sherrer then hit the go-ahead jumper with five seconds left. Florida Atlantic’s last-second shot missed as time expired.
Sherrer finished with 21 points on 8-of-11 shooting, including 2 of 3 from 3-point range. Williams added 12 points. No other South Alabama player reached double figures.
Arrow: ‘We Survived’
“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,” South Alabama coach Ronnie Arrow said. “Our guys played hard. I was proud of our guys – they played hard and hit the big bucket at the end.”
