Jaguars Lose On Poor Shooting And Turnovers
The Jaguars shot only 36% and had 17 turnovers in their loss to Troy in the regular season finale.
Troy started the game with an 11-3 run over the first six and a half minutes to take an eight point lead. A three-pointer by Domonic Tilford would spur the Jaguars to a short rally to cut the Trojan lead and tie the game at 16 about half way through the first half.
The Trojans would break the tie and push out to a seven point lead with 5:31 left in the first half. Again the Jaguars mounted a rally attempt and would cut the lead down to three, 29-26 with 2:52 left in the opening half. But Troy would again extend their lead to seven points, have it cut down to four points and extend it to seven once more just before halftime, 36-29.
Domonic Tilford would open the second half with a 3-pointer but would still see Troy’s lead grow to eight points four minutes into the second half. Yet another three pointer by Domonic Tilford would shrink the Trojan lead to four, 45-41 with 13:55 left in the second half. But Troy would answer with a 6-0 run to stretch their lead to the largest of the game, 51-41.
After trading baskets, the Jaguars would make another run at the Troy lead by going on a 7-0 run over three minutes to get within three points of the lead at 53-50. Troy would once again hit a 6-1 run over a minute and a half to lead by eight, 59-51. The Jaguars would make one last run for the game going 7-2 over four minutes and seventeen seconds to get within three points with 25 seconds left. LaShun Watson was forced to foul with 19 seconds left with Troy making both attempts to make the Trojan lead five points, 63-58. Domonic Tilford missed a three-point attemp with 14 seconds left forcing Ronald Douglas to foul when Troy came away with the rebound.
Domonic Tilford led the Jags in scoring with 17 on 5-17 shooting from the floor, 5-12 from 3-point range and going 2-2 from the free-throw line. Bryan Sherrer was the only other Jag to score in double digits with 12, he went 4-7 from the floor, missed both 3-point attempts but hit all four of his free-throw attempts.
Troy had four players in double digits. Michael Vogler scored 13, Brandon Hazzard had 12, and Antywan Jones and Mario Telfair both had 10 for the Trojans.
Troy outscored the Jags in the paint 36-20, off turnovers 17-6 and in fast break points 10-4. Troy also outshot the Jags 45% – 36% from the floor. While the Jags out rebounded Troy 45-34, they turned the ball over 17 times. However the Jaguar defense held Troy to 15 points below their season average and held them 31 lower than their previous matchup in the Mitchell Center.
Coach Arrow remarked after the game, “Offensively we just didn’t make enough plays. We didn’t attack the zone good, we had some guys that didn’t play well tonight and now we’ve got to go back to the drawing board. We have to have all of our guys show up ready to play for the tournament.”
Domonic Tilford is now seventh place in USA single season history with 74 three-point field goals in a season. DeAndre Coleman is also one rebound shy of 500 for his career at South Alabama.
USA drops to 17-12 for the season and 10-8 in the Sun Belt while Troy improves to 19-11 overall and 14-4 in the SBC. South Alabama will await the announcement of their opponent in the opening round of the Sun Belt Conference on Sunday.
GO JAGS!!