South Alabama men’s basketball lost a close game to North Texas, 58–57, on Sunday at the Mitchell Center. Both teams now hold records of 8–3 for the season.
Chaze Harris led South Alabama with 20 points, seven rebounds, three assists, and two steals. He also made eight of his 13 free throw attempts. Jayden Cooper added 12 points and two steals, with eight of his points coming in the second half as the Jaguars pushed the pace in transition. Adam Olsen contributed eight points and five rebounds while playing nearly the entire game. Hantz Louis-Jeune scored seven points off the bench.
The Jaguars shot 40.8 percent from the field and limited North Texas to just 33.9 percent shooting overall, including only 22.5 percent from beyond the arc (9-of-40). South Alabama outscored North Texas in the paint by a margin of 34–18 and held a fast-break point advantage of 19–9. However, North Texas managed to gain an edge at the free throw line late in the contest.
South Alabama forced 14 turnovers from North Texas and converted those into 34 points, while committing only 11 turnovers themselves.
North Texas started strong with an early surge that put them ahead by 11 points midway through the first half. South Alabama responded defensively and cut into the lead, trailing just 30–26 at halftime after Harris made two free throws in the closing seconds.
Early in the second half, South Alabama tied the score at 30–30 and took its first lead following a three-point play by Stephen Williams. The Jaguars went on a 12–0 run midway through the half to take a brief lead at 46–44 with just over eight minutes remaining, fueled by finishes at the rim from Harris and Cooper.
The final minutes saw several lead changes and ties. With less than a minute left, Cooper’s layup tied it at 57–57, but North Texas hit one of two free throws to retake the lead with under half a minute remaining. On their last possession, South Alabama collected two offensive rebounds but missed both potential game-winning shots before time expired.
Head coach Richie Riley said: “For most of the year we’ve been on the right side of these tight ones. We’ve had so many one-possession games where we found a way to win, and today we weren’t able to. We had opportunities, but we weren’t able to finish. I’m proud of the fight our guys showed.When we went down 44–34, we could have mailed it in, but we battled back and gave ourselves a chance at the end.”
South Alabama will return to action on Wednesday when they open Sun Belt Conference play against ULM on the road at 6:30 p.m.
