Courtesy: Chip English Tim Williams

MOBILE, Ala. --- University of South Alabama’s Tim Williams led all players with 30 points and 13 rebounds and the Jaguars scored 51 points in the second half to pull away from West Florida 79-63 in an exhibition men’s basketball game Thursday night at the Mitchell Center.

South Alabama starts the season in earnest Nov. 13 against Houston Baptist as part of the Rice Basketball Challenge in Houston.

“That was a typical first game,” said USA head coach Ronnie Arrow. “I thought that we were very stand-offish to start the game. I thought we came back the second half and ran our offense. We did nothing but catch and shoot, and that’s why we shot such a poor percentage in the first half. We decided to come back and make them guard us and run our offense. Hopefully with eight new guys, they learn that what they did in high school or junior college isn’t going to work at this level. You have to make the other team guard you, and get hand checks, easy buckets and let it open up.”

The Argonauts led by as many as four points in the first half and stayed close thanks to the Jags’ 32.3% shooting and nine turnovers.

Williams, a junior from Pontiac, Mich., scored the final three points of the opening half, including a lay-up at the buzzer, to break a 25-25 tie and send the Jaguars into the locker room up three. The scoring burst continued into the final 20 minutes as Williams tipped in a missed shot, part of a 14-3 run spanning halftime.

After a 3-pointer by UWF’s Max Hoggard at the 16:17 mark, USA reeled off a 10-1 spurt to stretch the lead to 17, 49-32.

In addition to the 51 points, the Jaguars shot 53.6% from the floor after halftime, a 21.3% improvement from the opening period, and also went 2-for-4 from 3-point land.

“We asked the guys to execute our offense; we just weren’t executing our offense,” Arrow said about the halftime adjustments. “Everybody just wanted to catch and shoot in the first half. We started executing in the second half. We had some guys that we’re going to be dependent on that didn’t have a good game tonight. Hopefully, they learned from this game, and the ones who did have a good game tonight will just continue to get better.”

Williams posted 15 of his 30 points and seven of his 13 boards before the break. He shot 11-of-17 from the field and went 7-for-8 from the foul line.

“Tonight, Tim got a lot of his shots with what we’ve been trying to get him to do for a while – take a guy off the dribble,” said Arrow. “Hopefully, that’s what he learned tonight. He did a really good job.”

The Jaguars scored the first five points of the contest but the Argos answered with 10 straight, capped off by a dunk from Tramell Wooten. USA then scored the next six points and neither team led by more than four the rest of the half.

USA senior LaShun Watson (Greenville, Ga.) and freshman Javier Carter (Dallas, Texas) each recorded double-figure points with 11 and 10, respectively. Carter also tallied four blocks while junior Raymond Sims (Philadelphia, Pa.) dished out four assists. The Jags won the battle of the boards 51-32.

“I was very happy with how Javier played,” said Arrow. “He brings a dimension that we’ve been used to having in there – a shot blocker with long arms and the ability to spread out in there.”

Hoggard and Maurice Thomas posted 15 points each for the Argos.

For more information about South Alabama athletics, check back with www.usajaguars.com.  Season tickets for all Jaguar athletic events can be purchased by calling (251) 461-1USA (1872).

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