MOBILE, Ala. – The Spring Hill College (SHC) men's basketball team fell 79-50 in an exhibition contest with their in-town NCAA Division 1 rival the University of South Alabama (USA) Jaguars at the USA Mitchell Center on Monday night.

The Jaguars (3-4) clawed out to a 37-20 lead with 2:51 to go in the 1st half, but the motion offense of the Badgers created open shots for Spring Hill that simply refused to find the bottom of the net. The size and strength of USA also proved decisive over the final three minutes of the period with the Jags earning two fast break dunks off Badger turnovers to build a 42-21 advantage at halftime.

At the intermission, the statistics showed the Jaguars scoring 14 points off 12 Badger turnovers while SHC was shooting 33.3% (8-24) and USA was successful on 55.6% (15-27) of their attempts.

The 2nd half saw USA open the period on a 5-0 run to make it a 47-21 Badger deficit at 15:59 before junior center Dejan Stefanovic scored on the inside at 15:33. By the 4:56 mark, USA held a 68-40 advantage and cruised to the 79-50 final score.

The Badgers finished the night with a 40.4% (19-47) effort from the floor and a 28.6% (2-7) showing from 3-point distance while USA made 53.2% (25-47) of their shots with 41.7% (5-12) of their 3-point shots finding the goal. Spring Hill lost 21 turnovers to eight USA steals as the Jags lost 15 turnovers to just two steals by the Badgers. USA won the battle for rebounds by a 31 to 22 margin.

USA guard Ken Williams scored a game-high 17 points and forward Georgi Boyanov added 15 for USA while sophomore guard Walter Massey led the Badgers with 14 points and seven rebounds off a 6-for-11 (.545) shooting night.

The Badgers (1-5) will open the Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SIAC) portion of their schedule on Thursday versus the Tuskegee University Golden Tigers (4-2) at home in the Arthur R. Outlaw Recreation Center beginning at 7:30 p.m.