South Alabama earns split, knocks off Arkansas State 70-62

Feb 8, 2020, 11:59 am

MOBILE, Ala. -- Herb McGee and Josh Ajayi combined to score 44 points as South Alabama held off Arkansas State 70-62 in a Sun Belt Conference game on Thursday night.

The Jaguars split the season series with Arkansas State. The Red Wolves won the first meeting January 10 in Jonesboro, 66-65.

Ty Cockfield hit a 3 with 4:08 left to pull the Red Wolves within a point, 60-59. And Marquis Eaton missed a 3 and two layup attempts for the lead before Trhae Mitchell extended the South Alabama advantage with 1:59 left with a layup. McGee scored at the basket and R.J. Kelly hit two free throws to push the lead to 66-59 with 1:14 left and put the game out of reach. McGee added four more free throws to complete the scoring for South Alabama.

McGee hit 6 of 8 from the free-throw line and finished with 24 points for South Alabama (12-11, 5-5). Ajayi finished with 20 points and Mitchell grabbed 10 rebounds.

Tristin Walley and Cockfield each scored 16 points for Arkansas State (10-13, 4-6).