MOBILE, Ala. ? The South Alabama Jaguars did not have the Sun Belt Conference home opener that it had hoped for, falling 59-51 in a hard-fought game to Middle Tennessee Tuesday night at the Mitchell Center.  The Jags fall to 7-7 overall and 1-2 in conference play, while Middle Tennessee improves to 6-8 and 2-2 in conference play.

The first half started as Middle Tennessee scored the first two buckets of the game, but a 12-0 run by the Jags over the next six minutes gave USA a 12-4 lead.  During the run, senior Leandro Buboltz hit two key 3-pointers.  The Jags then pushed the lead to 14-7 with an alley-oop dunk by junior Kenny Hooks from junior Daon Merritt at 11:03. 

USA held a 23-19 lead as the Blue Raiders began to hit some shots, including a shot clock beating 3-pointer by Nigel Johnson, cutting the deficit to 23-21 with 3:43 left in the half. 

Middle Tennessee tied the game at 23 with a dunk by Kevin Kanaskie with just under two minutes to play in the half.  Desmond Yates put the Blue Raiders ahead with a turnaround jumper with just under a minute to play in the half, 25-23 and held on for a 27-23 advantage at half.

The Jaguar offense really struggled through the last 10 minutes of the first half, not hitting a field goal for the last 8:33 in the half and missed their final eight shots.   USA had an 18-7 lead with 10:29 to play and were outscored 20-5 the rest of the way. 

For the half USA shot 36 percent on 9 of 25 from the floor and were 3 of 11 from downtown.  The Jags were 2 of 3 from the charity stripe and were led by Buboltz who had all three 3-pointers with nine points.

Middle Tennessee had six points from Johnson to lead the Blue Raiders.  MT shot 46 percent on 12 of 26 from the floor and were 3 of 10 from the 3-point line.  The Blue Raiders held a 21-10 advantage on the boards.

The Jags came out in the second half with more intensity as they cut the deficit to one point twice and took a 38-36 lead on a trey by senior Stephen Cowherd with just under 12 minutes left.  Cowherd hit two key 3-pointers to bring the Jags back from a five point deficit.

Middle Tennessee regained the lead at 42-39 lead with 7:42 left in regulation.  A trey by sophomore Trajinski Grigsby cut the deficit to 44-42 with 7:15 left.  

The game stayed at a one point margin until MT’s Kyle Young hit a 15 footer to give Middle Tennessee a 49-46 lead with 2:45 left. 

For the game USA had just one player in double figures as Buboltz had 12 points all in the first half.  The Blue Raiders had three players in double figures led by 12 points from Yates and Kanaskie.  Middle Tennessee won the battle of the boards 43-22.  USA was 8 of 25 from beyond the arc and just 3 of 9 from the charity stripe, while MT was 3 of 14 from long range and 12 of 13 from the line with six coming in the final two minutes to ice the game.

USA continues at home against Florida International on Thursday in the second game of a doubleheader.  The women begin at 5 p.m. followed by the men’s game approximately 30 minutes after the conclusion of the women’s contest.