MOBILE, Ala. ? All five starters in double figures and a season-high 58 percent shooting sparked the Jaguars to a 101-76 victory over Sun Belt Conference newcomer Florida Atlantic on Saturday night at the Mitchell Center. The Jags had 25 a team-high 25 points from Demetric Bennett and 20 points from senior Carlos Smith to lead the team. FAU had a career-high 29 points from Carlos Monroe in the losing effort.
Both started out on fire as USA used a pair of 3-pointers by senior Leandro Buboltz and Bennett to build an 11-6 lead with 17 minutes left in the half. FAU had six of its first eight points from Monroe, who had 26 points in his last outing at New Orleans on Thursday. Both teams were shooting over 60 percent through the first five minutes of the contest.
USA jumped out to a 17-10 lead through the first 5:40 of the half on solid outside shooting as USA made four of its first six 3-pointers with three coming from Bennett. Monroe had eight of FAU’s first 10 points, all in the paint.
A 9-1 run by the Jags including a technical foul on the FAU bench and Bennett’s third 3-pointer gave USA a 26-11 lead with 10:25 left in the half.
The Owls really cooled off after beginning the half making five of their first seven shots. FAU made just one of its last six shots and missed all six of its 3-pointers with 7:54 left in the half.
A steal, a layup by junior Daon Merritt and a old fashion three-point play gave the Jags a 34-13 lead with seven minutes left. Since the 14:21 mark, USA went on a 21-4 run to push the lead to 38-14 with 5:39 left in the half. The Owls went without a field goal for 5:33 before Avery Holley hit the first 3-pointer of the night and then hit two more shots to cut the defict to 45-21, but another 3-pointer by Bennett gave USA a 48-21 lead with 1:39 left.
The Jags held a 50-25 lead at halftime as junior Ernest Little hit two free throws with three seconds left in the first half. For the half, the Jags scored a then-season-high 50 points and shot 55.6 percent on 15 of 27 from the floor and were 7 of 13 from beyond the 3-point line for 53.8 percent. USA also was 13 of 22 from the charity stripe.
FAU shot 40 percent for the half on 10 of 25 from the floor. The Owls were just 1 of 9 from beyond the arc and 4 of 6 from the charity stripe. USA had two players in double figures led by Bennett with 14 points and Merritt had 12 points. Monroe led FAU with 12 points.
FAU made just two field goals from the 14:38 mark to the 4:28 mark in the first half.
The Owls opened the second half with more fire and cut the deficit to 60-40 with 14:29 to play as Monroe has become a force for FAU as he was 10 of 16 for 20 points.
Through the first eight minutes of the half FAU shot 73 percent cutting the deficit to 69-53 with 11:39 left.
The Jags and Owls traded buckets for the next four minutes as USA held a 80-60 lead with just under eight minutes left. Treys by Buboltz and Smith pushed the lead to 86-60 with just over six minutes to play.
A barrage of 3-pointers by the Jaguars pushed the lead to 94-68 with 4:27 left as senior Stephen Cowherd got into the action with his first trifecta of the game. Cowherd followed that with an alley-oop dunk to Little for a 96-68 lead with just over three minutes left.
A 3-pointer by Smith pushed the Jaguar lead to 99-74 with 1:34 to play. USA hit the 100 mark with a pair of free throws by Smith to make the score 101-76 with under one minute to play. It was the first time USA has scored over 100 points since a 123-75 win over William Carey on Feb. 25, 2003.
Florida Atlantic and South Alabama each set season-highs with 51 points in the second half.
For the game, the Jags shot a season-high 58 percent from the floor and hit 14 3-pointers shooting 60 a season-best 60 percent from beyond the arc and had a season-high 23 made free throws. Along with Bennett and Smith, Little had a career-high 18 points and Merritt tied his career-high with 18 points and Buboltz had 10.
FAU played a whole lot better in the second half as it scored 51 points and shot 56 percent for the second half and 48 percent for the game. DeAndre Rice had 17 points for the Owls and Paul Graham chipped in 11 off the bench.
The Jags hit the road for a battle with Troy on Thursday at 7:30 p.m. and will return home to take on UALR on Saturday, Jan. 13 at 7:05 p.m.
