MOBILE, Ala. ? Career-highs by seniors Carlos Smith and Leandro Buboltz propelled the Jaguars to a 91-71 victory over West Florida Wednesday night at the Mitchell Center.  Smith had 26 points, Buboltz had 21 and junior Demetric Bennett chipped in 15 points.  UWF’s Barry Durosier had a game-high 27 points.  The Jaguars improve to 4-1 on the year, while UWF falls to 1-2.

West Florida opened the scoring as Durosier scored the first bucket of the game, but the Jags came back with a 15-4 run over the next six minutes, building a 15-6 lead with 14:13 to play in the half.  UWF cut the deficit to seven points with 6:31 left in the half, but the Jags held off the surge, closing the half scoring 15 of the last 25 points.

USA torched the nets in the opening half, shooting a season-best 58.1 from the field on 18-of-31.  The Jags were 8-of-16 from beyond the arc and 4-of-5 from the line.  Smith led the way with 13 points, followed by Buboltz and Bennett each with 12.  Durosier had 13 points for UWF on 6-of-9 from the floor.  Buboltz pulled down six rebounds in the opening half, including four on the offensive end.

The Jags took command in the second half as they built a 21-point advantage capped by a thunderous dunk by Bennett with the assist from junior Daon Merritt who tied his career-high with 10 assists.  Merritt set his career-high with 10 assists against Morehead State in his last outing.

UWF cut it back to 13 points as it went on an 8-0 run with 14:48 to play.  A layup by Smith ended the run and the Jaguars proceeded to go on a 14-6 run building a 73-52 lead with just over 10 minutes left. 

A 3-pointer by Smith gave USA its biggest lead with three minutes left at 87-64.  USA went on for the 91-71 win.

Of the 12 players that played tonight for the Jaguars, 11 scored.  The four freshmen saw good minutes tonight as Brooks Taylor and Charles Tabet each scored their first collegiate field goals.  Taylor had five points, including a 3-pointer.  Darren Cloud matched his career-best with three points.  Philip Tabet did not score, but recorded two rebounds.

The Jags shot 51.6 percent for the game (32-62), marking the first time this season that they have shot over 50 percent for the game.  USA made a season-best 15 3-pointers and were 52 percent from beyond the arc.  Smith was 10-of-14 from the field, including 6-of-9 from beyond the arc.  Buboltz was 5-of-7 from beyond the arc. 

The Jags now travel to Bowling Green (1-2) for a 2 p.m. eastern tip Saturday.  USA returns home to face Samford, Dec. 2 at 7:05 in the Mitchell Center.