South Alabama clamped down on defense at the right time on Friday to finish the regular season strong.

The Jaguars held visiting Louisiana-Monroe to just one field goal in the final 5:54 of game time as part of an 80-69 victory on Senior Night at the Mitchell Center. South Alabama finishes the regular season 16-15 overall and 8-10 in the Sun Belt Conference, having won six of its final eight games.

South Alabama finishes in a three-way tie for seventh place in the Sun Belt standings with Georgia State and Georgia Southern, and will be the No. 8 seed for the conference tournament, which begins Tuesday in Pensacola, Fla. The Jaguars avoid the play-in round and will face No. 9 Georgia Southern at 11:30 a.m. Thursday at Pensacola Bay Center.

“Senior Night is always emotional, special,” South Alabama coach Richie Riley said. “And it’s really important to me and our program that our guys play their last game in the Mitchell Center and leave here in the winner’s circle. Our guys were able to do that. The first half was a bit rough. We didn’t guard with the intensity we needed. I thought we came out with the right mentality in the second half. … It was one of those you’ve got dig out, but we found a way to win. And that’s an important thing this time of year.”

On Friday, South Alabama trailed by eight at one point in the first half but pulled within 36-34 at halftime. The Jaguars came out strong in the second half, taking the lead for good on Tyrell Jones’ 3-pointer with 18:41 to play.

Jones scored a game-high 21 points for the Jaguars, including six straight to extend his team’s lead from 69-66 to 75-66 with 2:24 to play. One of five seniors on the South Alabama roster and one of two who played more than two years with the Jaguars, Jones scored 19 points in the second half.

“Tonight, I just had to do what I do,” Jones said. “My teammates helped me out, but Senior Night is one of the night where you want to come out and do your best and leave on a good note. I believe I did that.”

Fellow senior Samuel Tabe added 14 points and six rebounds for South Alabama, while freshman guard Marcus Millender had 13 points, eight rebounds and four assists. Senior forward Marshall Kearing had 12 points, three rebounds, two steals and two blocks in 21 minutes.

The Jaguars shot 55% (30-for-55) from the field and 81% (13-for-16) from the free-throw line, offsetting ULM’s 17 offensive rebounds. The Warhawks (11-18, 6-12) got 18 points from Nika Metskhvarishvili and 17 points and eight rebounds from Jerry Ngopot, but had no one else in double-figures scoring.

“This was a really big win,” said Kearing, who scored eight of his points in the game’s first three minutes. “Not only just for the seniors, but so we could get the seeding we wanted going into the tournament in Pensacola. It was special to finish out this way at ‘The Mitch.’”

South Alabama was also 16-15 and the No. 8 seed entering the 2023 Sun Belt tournament, and made it all the way to the final game after knocking off Appalachian State, top-seeded Southern Miss and James Madison in succession. The Jaguars lost the championship game 71-66 to Louisiana, missing a chance to make the NCAA tournament for the first time since 2008.

Riley’s teams finished with at least a .500 record in his first five seasons, something they are guaranteed to do again this year after Friday’s win. This year’s team rebounded after beginning the season with a home loss to NAIA opponent Mobile and also lost five straight games in January and early February to fall to 3-8 in Sun Belt play before finishing on a 5-2 run in the league (the 6-2 overall finish also included a win over Northern Illinois in the MAC-Sun Belt Challenge).

“I just want to say I’m proud of our guys,” Riley said. “We played in here opening night and we lost to Mobile and I think a lot of people thought this was going to be a single-digit-win season. We lost five in a row in the middle of the year and it looked like it was going downhill again. … But our kids never quit. And as a fan, you should be proud of that.

“… Hopefully we win the whole thing next week; that’s the goal. But we live in a culture where out of 14 teams, the other 13 teams that don’t go to the NCAA tournament are disappointed. And it’s the only sport in college athletics that’s like that.”