Barry Dunning scores 46 points, but South Alabama loses at Texas State in OT

A near-record performance by Barry Dunning wasn’t enough for South Alabama to beat Texas State on Saturday, or to remain in first place in the Sun Belt Conference.

Mark Drone’s driving layup with 0.5 seconds left in overtime gave the homestanding Bobcats a 93-92 victory at Strahan Arena in San Marcos, offsetting Dunning’s career-best and school-record-tying 46 points. The loss dropped the Jaguars (19-10, 11-5 Sun Belt) into second place in the conference standings, a game behind James Madison, with a week left in the regular season.

Dunning, a junior from Mobile, had given the Jaguars a one-point lead at 92-91 on a three-point play with 5.9 seconds remaining. But the Bobcats worked the ball down the floor against a South Alabama defense trying not to foul, and Drone got to the rim and converted the game-winner.

South Alabama didn’t have many options for a miracle shot with less than a second remaining, and Jayden Cooper was well short on a desperation heave at the buzzer. It was redemption for the Bobcats (14-14, 8-8), who lost 70-65 to the Jaguars in Mobile a week ago.

“I love my guys, but we didn’t deserve to win,” South Alabama coach Richie Riley said in his post-game comments to SportsTalk 99.5 FM. “We didn’t guard. We’ve hung our hat on our defense all year. We played one of the best offenses in our league, on the road Wednesday, and guarded our tail off (in a 60-56 win at Arkansas State).

“And we’ve been doing that, and we came in here today, we just didn’t guard. I’m just disappointed. Again, I love my guys, but we let this one go.”

Dunning — who also had 34 points against the Bobcats last week — scored just 11 in the first half on Saturday. However, he went off for 27 in the second half — connecting on five of his career-best nine 3-pointers in the final 20 minutes of regulation — and scored eight of the Jaguars’ 10 points in overtime.

Dunning’s 46 points ties a 51-year-old South Alabama program record, set by Eugene Oliver vs. Southern Miss in 1974. His point total was one off the Sun Belt mark of 47 by Appalachian State’s Ronshad Shabazz vs. Louisiana-Monroe in 2019, and is tied for the second-most by an NCAA Division I men’s player this season (Creighton’s Ryan Kalkbrenner scored 49 vs. Texas-Rio Grand Valley on Nov. 6; UMass’ Rahsool Diggins also had 46 vs. Fordham on Jan. 15).

Dunning finished the night 13-for-20 from the field, 9-for-12 from 3-point range and 11-for-11 from the free-throw line in a losing effort. The former Mr. Basketball at Mobile’s McGill-Toolen Catholic School transferred to South Alabama last summer after spending one season each at Arkansas and UAB.

“It’s incredible,” Riley said of Dunning. “He just hit shots, shots after shots, got to the free-throw line, made his free throws. … He was unbelievable. He’s one of the best players in this league. Really good player to come on the road and do that.

“It’s pretty special. I wish we could have got a win to go with it.”

South Alabama now sits in a three-way tie for second in the Sun Belt with Arkansas State and Troy, with two regular-season games remaining. The Jaguars would win any three-way tie with those two teams, and also have the head-to-head tiebreaker on first-place James Madison.

The Sun Belt tournament begins March 4 in Pensacola, Fla. The top two seeds get a bye all the way to the semifinals, while seeds 3 and 4 automatically reach the quarterfinal round.

Dunning didn’t have much help on Saturday, at least on the offensive end. Elijah Ormiston was the only other South Alabama player in double figures scoring with 12, and was the only other Jaguar to score in overtime.

Texas State went up by four at 90-86 on Coleton Benson’s 3-pointer — his fifth of the game — with 36 seconds left in overtime, but Dunning answered with his own trey to make it a one-point game with 26 seconds to play. Benson then made the first of two free throws, with Texas State big man Tylan Pope getting the rebound on the second but then throwing the ball away for a turnover with 20 seconds left.

That set up Dunning’s 3-point play, where he drove to the basket for the layup while being fouled, then made his free throw to put the Jaguars up one, however briefly. But then came Drone’s game-winner.

“(Drone) drove it a little into the floor and we never caught him,” Riley said. “We obviously picked up guarding, but the whole game, we just … we were not who we needed to be defensively.

“And it showed with their percentages and how many points they scored. I mean, they scored 46 points in the second half. That never happens. So, it’s disappointing. We’ve got to learn from it.”

South Alabama led by as many as seven points in the first half and five in the second half, but could never put Texas State away. A key sequence came just after Dunning connected on three free throws to put the Jaguars up 77-73.

However, Benson was fouled on his own 3-point attempt, also making all three to make it a one-point game again. The teams then traded buckets and free throws in the final minutes before Pope’s tip-in tied it with 15 seconds to play.

South Alabama had three shots to win the game in regulation, but none would fall. Dunning’s putback rimmed out as the buzzer sounded.

Tyrel Morgan led Texas State with 20 points, though he played much of the second half in foul trouble. Benson scored 19, Joshua O’Garro 13, Drone 11 and Pope — who had a game-high 11 rebounds — also 11.

South Alabama is back in action at Southern Miss at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, then returns home to face Louisiana at 7 p.m. Friday.