Most of the drama involving South Alabama basketball on Friday night happened away from Mobile and the Mitchell Center.

The Jaguars rolled past Louisiana 65-42 in their regular-season finale at home, getting a season-high 28 points from Elijah Ormiston on Senior Night. The South Alabama players, coaches and hundreds of their fans then stood and watched the closing minutes of Texas State’s 102-93 double-overtime victory over James Madison, which handed South Alabama a share of the Sun Belt Conference regular-season championship and the No. 1 seed for next week’s conference tournament in Pensacola, Fla.

South Alabama (21-10, 13-5) technically finished in a four-way tie for first place with JMU, Troy and Arkansas State, but won tiebreakers over all three to claim the top tournament seed. It is the Jaguars’ first regular-season Sun Belt championship in seven seasons under coach Richie Riley and first overall since 2008.

South Alabama gets a bye all the way to the conference semifinals, which take place Sunday, March 9. The Jaguars need only two wins at Pensacola Bay Center to reach the NCAA tournament for the first time in 17 years.

“I’ve challenged this group all year long to — this may sound silly to some people, but I challenged them to make memories that they’re going to talk about when they’re my age with each other,” Riley said. “Maybe across the country, maybe neighbors. I don’t know what they’ll be doing when they’re 42 years old, but I challenged them to make memories that they would be talking about.

“And that’s what they’ve done all season long, with how they’ve cared about each other, their selfless attitude, the approach they’ve had when we went on the road, found ways to go (win) on the road. And they put their self in a position to go take it tonight. Obviously, we needed a little bit of help too — we got that, but I always tell them that great things happen when you just pour everything you have into something and you’re ultimately invested.”

Against Louisiana on Friday, South Alabama jumped out to a 21-4 lead in the first 10 minutes, then recovered after the Ragin’ Cajuns (11-20, 8-10) made it a six-point game late in the half. The Jaguars led 31-20 at halftime, then scored the first 11 points of the second half to essentially put the game away.

Barry Dunning scored 15 points and grabbed six rebounds for South Alabama, while Myles Corey added eight points, four assists and four rebounds. But the key to the game was Ormiston, who led all players with 28 points and 10 rebounds, and went 14-for-14 from the free-throw line.

“Man, I don’t even have words for it,” said Ormiston, one of four seniors honored Friday night along guard Dylan Fasoyiro, forward Cantia Rahming and walk-on forward Caleb Kizer. “With it being Senior Night, I have family in town, and I was talking to my parents, and I just told them ‘I’m going to leave everything out on the court tonight.’

“We knew we had to defend home, and we knew what was at stake, which is a conference championship, and our guys have worked so hard. I’m so proud of this team. I couldn’t be more-happy to be on any other team, and be a part of what Richie Riley’s built.”

Louisiana had no players in double figures scoring, with guards Michael Thomas and Brandon Hardy putting up nine points each. Ragin’ Cajuns big man Mostapha El Moutaouakkil, who came in averaging 14.1 points per game, had just four in 18 minutes before fouling out late in the second half.

South Alabama suffered through a three-game losing streak in late January that dropped them into third place, but won six of their final seven Sun Belt games to claim a share of the conference title. The Jaguars were the surprise team in the league, having been picked 11th by league coaches in the preseason.

“It was a great feeling,” said Dunning, a Mobile native and former Mr. Basketball at McGill-Toolen Catholic School. “Everybody on the team had their own journey, had their own process they had to go through, and … it’s a really, really great moment.

“We were picked 11th in the league preseason, nobody was preseason (All-Sun Belt) team, none of that. For us to stay grounded, stay with each other and work hard to get this goal feels really great. And to do it with this group of guys, I wouldn’t want to do it with nobody else.”

South Alabama’s 21 regular-season wins are their most under Riley, and most for the program since the 2008 NCAA tournament team was 25-5 heading into the Sun Belt tournament. The 2020 Jaguars were 20-11 at the end of the regular season and the No. 2 seed for the conference tournament, which was wiped out due to the onset of the COVID pandemic.

Friday’s win — and the subsequent net-cutting celebration — was vindication for Riley, who promised in his 2018 introductory press conference that the Jaguars would “hang banners” and “win championships.” It took them longer to do so than many expected, but Riley’s team will get to add at least one “2025” to the championship banners hanging inside the Mitchell Center.

“It’s an unbelievable feeling,” Riley said. “… To be able to put a number on one of those banners, a new one — it’s been a long time —means the world to me. I’m hopeful we can put up a number on another banner out there too, that’s the goal. But it just means so much because this city is home, and my kids have been raised here.

“… There were so many people that stayed, they waited, we had to finish that game and see what happened (with Texas State-JMU). They waited, and I could see the joy on a lot of people’s faces that have literally been here every game that I’ve coached in this building. People that I’ve seen every game, through the tough losses, through the big wins, to be able to see a smile on their face for us to be able to win a championship, it’s the best feeling in the world.”

James Madison is the No. 2 seed for the Sun Belt tournament, and gets the other bye to the semifinals. No. 3 Troy and No. 4 Arkansas State gets byes to next Saturday’s quarterfinal round.

Here is the complete Sun Belt Conference tournament schedule (all times Central):

Tuesday, March 4

Game 1 – (12) Southern Miss vs. (13) Coastal Carolina – 5 p.m. [ESPN+]

Game 2 – (11) Louisiana vs. (14) ULM – 7:30 p.m. [ESPN+]

Wednesday, March 5

Game 3 – (9) Georgia Southern vs. Winner Game 1 – 5 p.m. [ESPN+]

Game 4 – (10) Old Dominion vs. Winner Game 2 – 7:30 p.m. [ESPN+]

Thursday, March 6

Game 5 – (8) Georgia State vs. Winner Game 3 – 5 p.m. [ESPN+]

Game 6 – (7) Texas State vs. Winner Game 4 – 7:30 p.m. [ESPN+]

Friday, March 7

Game 7 – (5) Marshall vs. Winner Game 5 – 5 p.m. [ESPN+]

Game 8 – (6) App State vs. Winner Game 6 – 7:30 p.m. [ESPN+]

Saturday, March 8

Game 9 – (4) Arkansas State vs. Winner Game 7 – 5 p.m. [ESPN+]

Game 10 – (3) Troy vs. Winner Game 8 – 7:30 p.m. [ESPN+]

Sunday, March 9

Game 11 – (1) South Alabama vs. Winner Game 9 – 5 p.m. [ESPN+]

Game 12 – (2) James Madison vs. Winner Game 10 – 7:30 p.m. [ESPN+]

Monday, March 10 (Championship)

Game 13 – Winner Game 11 vs. Winner Game 12 – 6 p.m. CT [ESPN/ESPN2]