MOBILE, Ala. – A balanced scoring effort by SIUE men's basketball couldn't overcome a hot-shooting South Alabama team as the Cougars dropped an 86-74 game Sunday in the final game of the South Alabama Jaguar Classic.
Both SIUE and South Alabama are 3-3. Both teams finished 2-1 at the tournament.
"We're always going to have the fight," SIUE Head Coach Brian Barone said. "That is part of the culture we have established. Ultimately it came down to defensively we didn't guard the way we needed to. We had too many defensive breakdowns. It's not from a lack of will and it's not a lack of want."
The Jaguars got off to a hot start and never really cooled. South Alabama used a 16-2 run to take its largest lead at 34-17 with 5:12 left before halftime and then SIUE gained control
Eddiean Tirado scored five points, Shamar Wright added four and Damarco Minor scored nine before the half came to an end. Minor capped off an 18-4 Cougar run when he picked off a rebound at one end and then heaved up a 25-foot, left-wing three as time expired on the half. South Alabama took a 38-35 lead into the break.
A Tirado jumper at 11:19 made it 55-54 South Alabama , but the Jaguars scored the next nine points to lead 64-54 with 7:51 left.
South Alabama knocked down 62 percent (29-47) of its shots overall and hit 11-18 (61 percent) of its three-point attempts.
"They're at home and they needed to shoot well to beat us, and they did," Barone said.
Julian Margrave scored 22 points and was 6-8 from long range.
"We let (Margrave) get a couple of shots early on some transition breakdowns," Barone added. "When you see the ball go in once or twice you start feeling really good about it."
Shamar Wright led the way with 17 points and Lamar Wright scored 10 points for the Cougars. Minor and Ray'Sean Taylor each scored nine points. Tirado and Terrance Thompson both finished with eight points. Arnas Sakenis scored seven points and Brian Taylor II scored six points on a pair of second-half three-pointers.
"Eddie went in there and changed the game with a couple of threes," Barone said. "We had some guys do some really good things. Coming out of this weekend, you're seeing a lot of what we can be and who we need to be. We need to stay true to our defensive mindset at those critical points."
The Cougars hit 47 percent of their shots and drained 13-29 (45 percent) three-pointers.
"This is a tournament that you want to come out of feeling like you're on the right path and there's no doubt that we are," Barone said.
SIUE is off until Saturday when Detroit Mercy comes to First Community Arena.
"We'll take a few days to get our bodies and minds right and prepare for Detroit," said Barone.
