Men’s Hoops Ends Season

The University of South Alabama men’s basketball season came to an end on Sunday night, as the Jags fell to Troy University, 67-55, at the Convention Center Court in Hot Springs, Ark.

“We played really tough and should walk out of here with our heads held high,” South Alabama assistant Chris Coker said. “Troy has a really experienced lineup and it’s just so hard to match up against that.”

South Alabama outscored Troy 34-29 in the second half but failed to get out of a 38-21 first-half hole.

Troy ran out a lineup with five starting seniors and it showed, as Troy nailed 50 percent of first half three-point shots to fuel their largest lead.

Ten seconds into the match, South Alabama’s Gary Redus fell hard on his right ankle and was forced to exit the game for the game’s first 10 minutes.

Redus would return just in time for senior Bryan Sherrer to exit with an additional South Alabama injury. The two Jags would cycle in-and-out of the lineup throughout the night before Head Coach Ronnie Arrow pulled his starters with 40 seconds remaining.

“We’ve just been so beat up all season,” Coker said. “I’m not trying to make any excuses but we haven’t played at full health all year. Experienced teams like Troy capitalize on that experience difference, and that’s what happened here tonight.”

South Alabama has a strong nucleus returning for 2010 including Martino Brock, Gary Redus, and Tim Williams and the Jags like their chances moving forward.

“We have a great lineup coming back next season and we are still very excited about South Alabama basketball,” Coker said. “We’ve had to replace five all-conference players over the past two seasons and really, this year was a rebuilding season.

“That’s not to say that this team couldn’t have won more games,” Coker continued. “This was a really good set of guys, but we just couldn’t keep all of them healthy at the same time. It’s really unfortunate.”

With the loss, South Alabama finishes the 2009-10 campaign at 17-15 (9-11 Sun Belt Conference). Troy continues on to the semi-finals where they will face defending champions Western Kentucky.

“We had opportunities against Troy in this game,” Coker said. “But they really capitalized, and they’re moving on. We look forward to next season.