JONESBORO, Ark. ? Four players in double figures and solid shooting propelled the Jaguars to a 91-78 road win at Arkansas State Thursday evening.  The Jags improve to 7-6 on the year and 1-1 in Sun Belt Conference play.  Arkansas State falls to 7-8 overall and 2-1 in conference play.  Junior Ernest Little had a career-high 20 points to lead the Jaguars.

“This is a big win and we are so excited to come in here and play well against a good team,” Jaguar head coach John Pelphrey said.  “We shot it better across the board and I thought tonight that everyone competed well.”

The game opened with a 3-pointer by junior Demetric Bennett and it was a sign of things to come as the Jags had one of their better outings from deep in the first half this season.  USA did not trail in the half and used a 21-6 run to build a 25-12 advantage with 12:12 to play in the half. 

Arkansas State did not go away, though as it fought back to cut the Jaguar lead to single digits four times and the half finished with a layup by Jaguar junior Daon Merritt at the buzzer for a 48-38 lead.

The Jaguars had one of their better shooting first halves of the season, going 17 of 29 from the field (58.6 percent), including 8 of 15 from beyond the arc.  Senior Leandro Buboltz led the team with 11 points and four rebounds on 4 of 6 from the floor and 3 of 4 from beyond the arc.  The Jags had 18 rebounds to ASU’s 17. 

The Indians were led by 14 points from Adrian Banks as he was a perfect 4 of 4 from long range.

The second half began as the first did with USA taking command early.  The Jags used a 12-5 spurt to build a 17 point advantage with just over 15 minutes left.  ASU was unable to get the deficit down under ten.  Every time the momentum began to swing towards ASU, the Jags had the answer.

Along with Little’s 20 points, Buboltz had 19, Bennett had 16 and Merritt had 13.  Isaac Wells had a double-double for the Indians with 20 points and 12 rebounds.  USA shot over 50 percent for just the second time this season and out rebounded the Indians 36-31. 

The Jags return home to play three games next week starting with Middle Tennessee on Tuesday at 7:05 p.m.