South Alabama’s second overtime win in three days featured a career-best performance by Barry Dunning.

The junior from Mobile poured in 34 points and grabbed 11 rebounds in the Jaguars’ 70-65 victory over Texas State on Saturday at the Mitchell Center. It was the most points by any player in a Sun Belt Conference game this year, and kept South Alabama in the mix for the regular-season league title.

South Alabama — which beat Marshall 91-82 in overtime on Thursday — improved to 18-9 overall and 10-4 in Sun Belt play, the first time it has reached double-digit conference wins since 2021. Pending the outcome of Saturday’s late game between Troy and first-place Arkansas State, the Jaguars will be either tied for first or remain tied for second with four games remaining on the regular-season schedule.

“It’s just a testament to work,” said Dunning, who made a season-best five 3-pointers on Saturday. “I just continue to work, keep my head high, remain humble. I have to give all the credit to my teammates. They found me and I was being aggressive. It opened up a lot of scoring opportunities for me.”

South Alabama rallied twice from six points down on Saturday, including with less than nine minutes left in regulation, taking a 60-57 lead on a pair of Elijah Ormiston free throws with 1:32 to play. However, Texas State’s Dylan Dawson hit a 3-pointer to tie it at 60 with 37 seconds left, then the Bobcats’ Mark Drone missed an off-balance 3 at the buzzer to force overtime.

The Jaguars limited the Bobcats (13-14, 6-8) to just five points in overtime, but didn’t put the game away until the final two minutes. Dunning’s three-point play with 43 seconds left put South Alabama up four, then a pair of free throws by Myles Corey following his rebound of a Texas State miss made it 69-63 with 27 seconds left.

Corey was fouled on the rebound by Texas State’s Tylan Pope, who fouled out after a monster performance in defeat. The 6-foot-6 senior posted a double-double with 20 points and 15 rebounds — eight offensive — and went 6-for-6 from the free-throw line.

“That was as physical a ball game as I’ve been a part of in a while,” South Alabama coach Richie Riley said. “It was hands-on every drive. Every shot that went up, you were getting hit in the back, you were getting held.

“… I’m going to have nightmares about Tylan Pope. That dude was as physical as we’ve seen. To count the power (conference opponents) we’ve played, he was more physical than all of them.”

Ormiston was the only other South Alabama player in double-figures scoring with 15 points, going 9-for-10 at the free-throw line. Dunning was 7-for-8 at the stripe, with Corey — who scored eight points, with five assists and six steals — going 4-for-5.

The Jaguars again struggled from 3-point range, making just five of 22 — all by Dunning. Defensively, South Alabama held Texas State to 33% shooting, forced 17 turnovers and blocked nine shots.

But the ultimate difference in the game was Dunning, the former Mr. Basketball at McGill-Toolen Catholic School who spent a year each at Arkansas and UAB before transferring back to his hometown school prior to this season. The 6-foot-6 forward played a season-high 42 minutes on Saturday, including all of the second half and overtime.

“He grew up a lot in this one; I told him that after the game,” Riley said. “The physicality that they were playing with and the things that he had to fight through to go out there and get 34, 11 rebounds, seven offensive rebounds, three assists, and shoot the percentages he did and play 42 minutes was really special. It was really special.

“To me, that was his best game in a Jaguar uniform so far. I don’t think it’ll be his best game by the time he’s done. I believe that much in him. I think that he’s going to have a lot of games that look similar to that when it’s all said and done.”

South Alabama returns to action at 7 p.m. Wednesday, playing at Arkansas State in a game that will be for at least a share of first place in the Sun Belt regardless of the outcome of any other games. The Jaguars beat the Red Wolves 76-62 in Mobile on Jan. 9.