MOBILE, Ala. — South Alabama basketball split two games last week, beating New Orleans 59-51 on Thursday to end a four-game losing streak before falling 80-68 to Middle Tennessee on Saturday at the Mitchell Center.
The Jaguars are 13-12 overall and 5-8 in the Sun Belt Conference.
South Alabama 59, New Orleans 51
South Alabama won Thursday’s game on the road against a New Orleans program that has announced it will move from NCAA Division I to Division III after this season.
The Jaguars outrebounded the Privateers 40-23. A 17-4 run late in the first half gave South Alabama a 33-23 halftime lead.
New Orleans opened the second half on a 14-2 run that included four 3-pointers and went ahead 37-35. South Alabama answered with 13 consecutive points. The Privateers twice pulled within six points but got no closer.
Gary Redus and Tim Williams each scored 16 points. Williams recorded his second consecutive double-double.
“I’m just real happy for the guys,” head coach Ronnie Arrow said. “We’ve been working and we’ve had some situations that haven’t worked out for us. The things that we haven’t been doing late in games we did tonight. We didn’t turn the ball over late and made our free throws late. Those are the things we were doing earlier in the year when we were beating teams.”
Middle Tennessee 80, South Alabama 68
South Alabama started fast Saturday, taking a 14-2 lead and stretching it to 22-6 on a Martino Brock dunk. Middle Tennessee responded with a 20-4 run to tie the game 26-26 and took a 34-33 lead into halftime.
The teams exchanged the lead several times early in the second half before South Alabama built a 58-51 advantage with 11:26 remaining, with Brock scoring five consecutive points during the stretch.
The Blue Raiders then scored 20 of the next 25 points, including 10 in a row after trailing 63-61. Middle Tennessee turned a turnover into a 3-pointer and followed with a jump shot on its next possession to lead 68-63 with 5:54 left.
South Alabama committed three of its 15 turnovers over a span of four possessions and missed four consecutive shots down the stretch.
Williams led the Jaguars with 16 points, 11 of them in the second half. Bryan Sherrer scored 14 and Redus added 13.
Arrow on Late-Game Struggles
Arrow said the loss followed a pattern from several recent games.
“This game was pretty much an exact replica, with the exception of New Orleans, of our last five or six games,” Arrow said. “We had at least a 10-point lead in the first half again and we haven’t been able to put the game away. They had kids that delivered and gave them big shots when they needed it.”
“It’s frustrating for the players and it’s frustrating for us. It’s frustrating for our fans,” he said. “We just have to find a way to come back.”
Up Next
South Alabama continues a three-game homestand Thursday against Florida International. Tipoff at the Mitchell Center is set for 7:05 p.m.
