BOWLING GREEN, Ky. ? The Univeristy of South Alabama men’s basketball team could not overcome poor shooting in the 2006-07 Sun Belt Conference opener at Western Kentucky on Friday, falling 73-51.  The Jags had three players in double figures led by junior Demetric Bennett with a game-high 16 points.  WKU held the Jags to 30 percent from the field for the game.

WKU (9-4, 1-1 SBC) opened the game with first seven points and held that advantage for the first four minutes of the game.  A quick 5-0 spurt by the Jags cut the deficit to 11-9 with 15 minutes left.  The Hilltoppers built the lead back to eight, but another spurt by the Jags cut the deficit back to three with 10 minutes left. 

Using a 7-0 run midway through the half, WKU pushed the lead back to double-digits and looked as if it would take command of the game.  USA showed resilience as it cut the deficit back to single digits with under a minute to play in the half, but an off-balance 3-pointer by that Toppers just before half gave them a 38-27 lead at intermission.

USA shot 26 percent in the opening half without a made 3-pointer.  The Jags, however went to the free throw line 17 times in the opening half making 13.  Junior Daon Merritt led the team with nine points at half as he was 7 of 8 from the charity stripe and a bucket.

Preseason SBC Player of the Year Courtney Lee led the Hilltoppers with 11 points.

Western Kentucky opened the second half as it did the first with the first eight points and built a 45-27 lead with 18 minutes left.  The Jags cut the deficit to 12 on a 3-pointer by senior Leandro Buboltz who had 10 points off the bench, but were unable to get any closer than that the rest of the way.  Western continued to built the lead to a game-high 24 points and settled for the 73-51 win.

USA shot 30 percent for the game on 16 of 53.  The Jags did make four second half 3-pointers, but were just 4 of 14 from downtown.  Along with Bennett, Merritt had 12 points and junior Ernest Little led the team with eight rebounds.  Lee had a team-high 15 points and eight rebounds for the Toppers who shot 50 percent for the game.

The Jags return home for the Christmas holiday before heading to Arkansas State on Dec. 28.