By Jerry Briggs
Special for The JB Replay

The South Alabama Jaguars built a 13-point halftime lead and then hit their first eight shots from the field after intermission Sunday en route to an easy 82-58 victory over the UTSA Roadrunners.

Forward Adam Olsen led the defending Sun Belt Conference champion Jaguars to their seventh win in eight games with 20 points. Guard Chaze Harris scored 16 and Jayden Cooper 11.

Jamir Simpson scored 17 and Dorian Hayes 15 for the Roadrunners, who fell to 4-4 on the season.

UTSA had trouble all day against the South Alabama zone defense. Against the zone, the Roadrunners were tempted to shoot from the 3-point arc. Mostly, they misfired on those attempts, and the game slowly slipped away.

The Roadrunners shot it poorly, making only 27 percent from the field and 25 percent from the three-point line. UTSA hit 14 of 56 shots from beyond the arc. They also got beat on the boards, with the Jaguars owning a 53-39 advantage.

First half

South Alabama raced to a 44-31 lead at intermission after hitting UTSA with a 17-6 run in the final six minutes.

During the late streak, the Jaguars flummoxed the Roadrunners with a tricky zone defense that forced them to shoot over the top for any chance to score.

UTSA couldn’t hit those shots, misfiring on six of eight from beyond the arc down the stretch.

The Jaguars also produced some easy baskets, making two steals and converting them into field goals in the last two minutes.

Jayden Cooper did the honors just inside the two-minute mark, swiping a Macaleab Rich inbounds and hitting a layup.

At the end of the half, forward Adam Olsen pressured Austin Nunez into a turnover near midcourt, leading to a driving dunk by guard Chaze Harris.

Records

South Alabama 7-1
UTSA 4-4

Coming up

UTSA at Alabama, Dec. 7, 1 p.m.