Box Score MOBILE, Ala. ? South Alabama (8-3, 1-0) rallied from a six-point halftime deficit and held off the UALR men's basketball team (4-7, 0-1) down the stretch on its way to a 74-71 victory in the Sun Belt Conference opener for the two teams.
Junior Alex Garcia-Mendoza was one of four Trojans in double figures, finishing with 17 points off 7-of-13 shooting. Junior Solomon Bozeman added 19 points while junior Ricky Davison chipped in 14 points off the bench by going 4-of-6 from three-point range.
The Jaguars shot 58.3 percent from the field in the second half and converted 17-of-21 foul shots over the final 20 minutes, while playing to a +18 rebounding margin on the night. Bryan Sherrer led all players with 21 points, 16 of which came in the first half, while Gary Redus chipped in 16 points off the bench thanks to a perfect 10-of-10 effort at the foul line.
The Trojans led by six points, 36-30, early in the second half before senior Mike Smith went down with an injury at the 19:14 mark. With Smith on the sideline, the Jaguars embarked on a 16-8 run and never trailed again.
After falling behind by as many as eight points, the Trojans were able to make it a one-possession game on several occasions but were never able to reclaim the lead as the Jaguars got key buckets down the stretch and went 7-of-8 at the line over the final 3:11.
UALR cut its deficit to a single point on two separate occasions, but the Jaguars converted 3-of-4 foul shots over the final 24 seconds to fend off the Trojan rally. Trailing 74-71 with 9.3 seconds left, the Trojans had one last shot, but Bozeman's potential game-tying three pointer was off the mark as time expired.
UALR capitalized on a 5:00 first-half scoring drought by the Jaguars to rip off a 12-0 run on its way to a 34-28 lead at the break. Sherrer carried the USA offense through the early goings, scoring 10 of the team's first 14 points to stake the Jaguars to an early 14-11 lead following his layup with 13:52 to go. The Jaguars would go scoreless for the next 5:00 minutes, however, before Tim Williams snapped the drought with a bucket in the paint.
With the Jaguars' offense stalled, Bozeman opened up the 12-0 run with a pair of layups to put the Trojans on top, and Garcia-Mendoza scored the final five points to give UALR a 23-14 lead with 9:24 remaining.
USA shot just 28.1 percent from the field and committed 11 turnovers in the first half, as UALR's lead reached as high as 10 points on two separate occasions. The Trojans held a 34-24 advantage after a pair of foul shots by junior Matt Mouzy at the 3:56 mark, but the Trojans went scoreless over the final 3:55 after going 0-4 from the field with three turnovers.
The Trojans were outrebounded by 10 (27-to-17) over the first 20 minutes, but outshot the Jaguars 41.4 percent to 28.1 percent and limited their turnovers (six). Bozeman paced the Trojans with nine points at the break, while Davison gave the Trojans a lift off the bench by scoring six points off 2-of-4 shooting from three-point range.
UALR returns to action Sunday afternoon when it travels to Jonesboro to take on Arkansas State at 2 p.m.
