After getting 46 points from Barry Dunning in an overtime loss to Texas State last Saturday, South Alabama used a more-balanced effort to claim an 88-82 victory at Southern Miss on Wednesday night.

Judah Brown led six players in double figures with 18 points as the Jaguars picked up their 20th victory of the season with the six-point win at Reed Green Coliseum in Hattiesburg. South Alabama remains alive for the No. 1 seed in the Sun Belt Conference tournament heading into Friday’s regular-season finale at home vs. Louisiana.

“It’s hard to get (20 wins), man, especially in our league,” South Alabama coach Richie Riley said in his post-game comments on SportsTalk 99.5 FM. “It’s hard to get them. I was proud of our fight. It certainly wasn’t our best game, necessarily.

“… We’re fortunate to win like that tonight. We scored a bunch of points. Defensively, not the energy we need to have, but hopefully we can get home, hopefully have a big crowd on Friday night because we’re playing for something pretty meaningful. We’ve got to ratchet up and guard better.”

The Jaguars (20-10, 12-5 Sun Belt) never trailed on Wednesday, leading by as many as 17 in the first half and by 10 at halftime. However, the Golden Eagles (10-20, 5-12) pulled within one midway through the second half behind a barrage of 3-pointers, and got within four in the final minute before South Alabama’s Myles Corey finally put the game away with a pair of three throws with 15 seconds left.

Corey had 11 points and nine assists for the Jaguars, while Dylan Fasoyrio scored 16, Dunning 14, Elijah Ormiston 13 and Cantia Rahming 10. Fasoyiro and Brown each hit four 3-pointers, while Dunning snagged 11 rebounds and Rahming six in 17 minutes off the bench.

Southern Miss big man Denijay Harris — the Sun Belt’s leading scorer and rebounder this season — had 25 points and 11 boards, while Cobie Montgomery scored a season-high 21 points. Montgomery hit five of the Golden Eagles’ 13 3-pointers, while Neftali Alvarez dished out 10 assists.

Wednesday’s victory gave South Alabama 20 wins in the regular season for the first time since 2019-20, Riley’s second year. That Jaguars team was set to be the No. 2 seed in the Sun Belt tournament before the COVID pandemic canceled the college basketball postseason.

South Alabama finished the season 8-6 on the road, 6-3 in road conference games. Wednesday’s game was their third straight away from home in the last eight days, a journey that included a 60-56 win at Arkansas State last Wednesday and the 93-92 overtime loss at Texas State.

“We’ve been on the road for a long road trip — three straight games on the road,” Riley said. “Found a way to get two (wins), almost three. Then we get to go home and celebrate our seniors and play a meaningful game in late February. That’s what it’s about, right? Playing these meaningful games when it comes down to the end of the season.”

South Alabama has all but locked up a Top 4 seed for this year’s Sun Belt tournament, which would give them a bye all the way to the quarterfinal round. The Jaguars can clinch at least a Top 2 seed — and an automatic berth to the semifinals — by beating Louisiana at 7 p.m. Friday.

To claim a share of the Sun Belt regular-season title and the No. 1 tournament seed, South Alabama needs a win over the Ragin’ Cajuns combined with a James Madison loss at Texas State on Friday. The Jaguars are currently a game back of the Dukes and tied with Troy and Arkansas State for second, but would win all the tiebreakers against those teams for tournament seeding.

The Sun Belt tournament begins Tuesday in Pensacola, Fla., with the championship game set for Monday, March 10.