South Alabama didn’t dominate from the opening tip Saturday vs. Louisiana-Monroe, but made up for it in the final 13 minutes of the first half.

The Jaguars spotted the Warhawks an early 6-point lead, then proceeded to score 22 of the game’s next 24 points in an 81-45 rout on Senior Day at the Mitchell Center. The victory was the fourth straight and seventh in eight games for South Alabama, which at 15-14 overall is above .500 overall for the first time since November and is now 8-8 in the Sun Belt Conference.

The victory was also South Alabama’s second straight by 30-plus points, following an 85-54 win over Southern Miss on Thursday. The 36-point margin was the Jaguars’ largest in conference play since a 71-33 victory over Denver in 2008, the year USA made its most-recent NCAA tournament appearance.

“I loved our guys’ approach today,” South Alabama coach Richie Riley said. “Senior Day is very special to me, it always is. These guys put a lot of time into it, they work hard, so we always want to send them out a winner. And we were able to do that in a big way today. You couldn’t have drawn it up much better.”

On Saturday, ULM (11-18, 7-9) led 10-4 with 13:25 to play in the first half, including a game-opening 3-pointer by former Jaguar Tyreke Locure. South Alabama then awoke from its slumber with authority, making seven straight 3-pointers and 14 consecutive shots overall at one point to lead 44-20 at halftime.

Greg Parham — one of five seniors honored in pre-game ceremonies — had 15 of his 19 points in the first half, and also added five assists. Jamar Franklin and Judah Brown each had 12 points, with Brown hitting four of USA’s 13 made 3-pointers.

“We have a lot of great shooters, especially when we prepare our feet and get the shot ready,” Parham said. “I feel like we have a great chance of making them all. Seven (3s) in a row; I didn’t even know that. But I’m not surprised at all.”

South Alabama scored 44 points in the first half despite zero from senior Isaiah Moore, who came into Saturday among the Sun Belt’s leading scorers at 18.6 points per game. Moore picked up two early fouls and sat for much of the first half, though he did have eight points in the second half.

Locure scored a team-high 12 points in his return to the Mitchell Center, but no other ULM player had more than seven. South Alabama had just five turnovers, none of which led to Warhawks points.

“We gave up zero points off turnovers and we gave up zero fastbreak points; those are two of the biggest stats I’m looking at,” Riley said. “If you do that, and you guard like we did in the half court, then you’re really hard to beat. We did a lot of good things today.”

South Alabama’s Owen White, also a senior, had 10 points and a team-high nine rebounds. Senior center Kevin Samuel had a relatively quiet day with four points and four rebounds, though he did block three shots.

Also honored on Senior Day was fan favorite Adam Sizemore, a former walk-on and the only current Jaguars player who has been with the program more than two years. The 5-foot-10 Sizemore played the final six minutes of the game after previously totaling just 15 all season, and grabbed a rebound, though he missed his lone shot attempt from 3-point range.

“It’s meant the world,” said Sizemore, who grew up in London, Ky., which is also Riley’s hometown. “I’ll be forever grateful to coach Riley for letting me have this opportunity four years ago. I didn’t really have any other options, and I want to get into coaching. … He allowed me to be a walk-on and told me that if I took care of business and did it the right way, he would allow me be a graduate assistant for him.

“… The fans here have been fantastic. They’ve taken me in with open arms, being nine hours from home. It’s been like a second family almost.”

On Jan. 26, South Alabama lost 66-64 to Old Dominion at home. That was the Jaguars’ fourth straight loss by a total of 13 points, and dropped them to 2-7 in Sun Belt play.

South Alabama has lost only once since, a 61-57 defeat at Troy on Feb. 9 in which they gave up the game’s final seven points to blow a late lead. Six of the seven victories in the Jaguars’ hot streak have been by at least 17 points, four by at least 20.

The Jaguars finish the regular season on the road, with games at Texas State Wednesday and at Louisiana on Friday. The Sun Belt Conference tournament begins Feb. 28 in Pensacola, Fla., and Riley said his team appears to be peaking at the right time.

“We’ve got such good people in our program — players, staff, they’re all good people,” Riley said. “We just hung together through all those tough losses. We’ve gotten better, and you can see that. We’re a heck of a lot better than we were a month-and-a-half ago. Our guys are playing at a high level, and we’ve got to continue to do that.”