NEW ORLEANS ? Brandon Davis had 26 points on 12-of-16 shooting and Demetric Bennett had 25 as visiting South Alabama took a 97-88 win over New Orleans in Sun Belt Conference action on Saturday.

Davis had 17 points on 8-of-11 shooting in the first half as the Jaguars (13-3, 5-0 SBC) won their ninth straight. Daon Merritt had 14 points and nine assists, including eight dimes in the first half.

T.J. Worley had 24 points, including six 3-pointers, while Bo McCalebb and Kyndall Dykes had 19 points each for New Orleans (12-5, 2-3). McCalebb added seven assists.

South Alabama shot 55 percent from the field and was 26-of-34 from the free-throw line. New Orleans shot 53 percent but struggled to get to the charity stripe ? going 7-of-10.

The Jaguars have won five straight against New Orleans.

The Privateers were 13-of-25 from 3-point range. They were helped out by 42 bench points after tallying just 11 in their last three games combined.

New Orleans, which never led after the 11:29 mark of the first half, got as close as 91-85 with 50 seconds left, but the Jaguars went 9-of-10 from the charity stripe in the final minute to ice it.

South Alabama led 38-30 at halftime

UNO will travel to North Texas for a 7 p.m. tipoff on Thursday. The game will be part of a doubleheader with the women's team, which will play UNT at 5 p.m.