PENSACOLA, Fla. — Temus Fulks had 23 points, Jordan Brown had 13 points and 16 rebounds, and second-seeded Louisiana beat No. 8 South Alabama 71-66 on Monday night to win the Sun Belt Conference Tournament title. .
Louisiana (26-7) advanced to its 11th NCAA Tournament and first since 2014.
Louisiana took its first lead of two or more points with 12:06 left in the second half on Terence Lewis II’s 49-46 advantage.
After South Alabama went 2-of-1 from the free throw line, Jalen Dahlcourt made a jumper in the lane with 27.7 seconds left to extend Louisiana’s lead to 67-64. The Jaguars were 17 of 28 all game.
Isaiah Moore made two free throws with 17.1 seconds left to pull South Alabama within 67-66, but Lewis answered twice on the other end to restore the three-point advantage. South Alabama guard Owen White made a long 3-pointer in the final seconds, and Kentrell Garnett sealed it with two free throws at 1.4.
Dalcourt finished with 13 points and Lewis added 12 for the Ragin’ Cajuns. Dalcourt and Fulks made three of Louisiana’s eight 3-pointers.
South Alabama (19-16) cruised to its first NCAA Tournament berth since 2008 with a 78-61 win over No. 1 seed Southern Miss on Saturday.
Moore scored a career-high 33 points for South Alabama. Kevin Samuel tied South Alabama’s single-season record for blocks with 86 in the first half. Samuel also had 12 points and six rebounds.
Moore, who averaged 18.5 points per game, scored 13 of South Alabama’s 20 points to help build a six-point lead. The Jaguars led 37-33 at halftime after 63% shooting and 16 points from Moore.
This report used information from the Associated Press.