DENVER—Down the stretch, Gary Redus finally found his shot.
After misfiring on all four of his previous shots, Redus hit a short jumper and a go-ahead 3-pointer in the final 2:21 to help South Alabama rally from a 14-point halftime deficit and edge Denver 48-47 on Sunday.
“I just couldn’t buy a bucket all game, so I knew my time was coming,” Redus said. “When I got the ball, I saw nobody in front of me. The shot (3-pointer) felt good as soon as it left my hands. I knew it was going in.”
Redus, son of former the major league baseball player of the same name, connected from long range with 1:25 remaining to put the Jaguars up 46-45. The 3 was part of a 15-7 closing run that allowed South Alabama (11-14, 5-9 Sun Belt) to overtake the Pioneers and end their 16-game home winning streak against conference opponents.
“This was huge. Not a lot of people come into Denver and win,” Redus said. “For us to come in here and beat Denver shows that we can beat anybody in the conference.”
Augustine Rubit, who had 14 points and 16 rebounds, scored on a putback with 34.1 seconds left to give South Alabama a 48-45 lead before Denver (13-14, 9-5) went to the foul line with a chance to tie it.
Brian Stafford missed the first of three free throws with 7.6 seconds remaining then made the next two.
After Redus missed the front end of a 1-and-1 with 6.4 seconds left, the Pioneers collected the rebound but couldn’t get off another shot.
Tim Williams added 14 points for South Alabama.
Chase Hallam led Denver with 15 points and 12 rebounds.
The loss dropped Denver into a three-way tie for first with Arkansas State and Louisiana-Lafayette in the Sun Belt West Division. Denver has two regular season games remaining on the road, including Thursday at Louisiana-Lafayette. The division winner will have a first-round bye in the conference tournament, set for March 5-8 in Hot Springs, Ark.
“We had our opportunities and didn’t take advantage of them,” Denver coach Joe Scott said. “We just didn’t play as well as we’ve been playing, and you’ve got to give them credit for that. But we knew all along that today, nothing was going to be won or lost. We have to go on the road, and we’ve got to be successful on the road.”
The Jaguars scored only 17 points in the first half then held the Pioneers to 16 after halftime.
South Alabama, which shot 50 percent from the field in the second half after shooting just 20.8 percent in the first, started its comeback by scoring the first seven points of the final half to pull within 31-24 with 15:51 to play.
Hallam then drained a 3-pointer to stall the Jaguars’ momentum and added two more baskets around a free throw by South Alabama’s Javier Carter to put Denver up 38-25 with 12:45 remaining.
But the Pioneers, who shot just 25 percent from the field in the second half after converting 46.4 percent in the first, scored only seven points before Stafford’s free throws, allowing the Jaguars to claw their way back. Redus hit a short jumper with 2:21 left to make it 45-43, setting the stage for his go-ahead 3.
“I thought our press got them tired and those 3’s weren’t going in quite as much for them as they were in the first half,” South Alabama coach Ronnie Arrow said.
South Alabama went into halftime down 31-17, tying the season scoring low for a Denver opponent in the first half this season. Denver’s last conference loss at home was to North Texas in the finale of the 2008-09 season.
