MURFREESBORO, Tenn. ? A career-high 23 points and 13 rebounds by junior Ernest Little sparked the Jaguars to a key 61-38 road victory at Middle Tennessee Thursday night. South Alabama (17-7, 11-2 SBC) held the Blue Raiders to a season-low 10 points in the second half and 38 points for the game.
Middle Tennessee started the game making five of its first six shots, but the Jaguars countered making 2 of their first three 3-pointers to stay within three through the first five minutes. Little got the “and one” and tied the game at 11 right out of the first media timeout.
USA settled down and began to shoot the ball better, going 4 of 4 over the next five minutes to pull to a tie at 18 with 10:37 left in the half. Middle Tennessee built a pair of five point advantages, but the Jaguars came back each time to either take the lead or pull within a field goal. Middle Tennessee took a 28-27 lead into the half.
For the half, USA shot 38 percent on 11 of 29 from the field and was 3 of 13 from beyond the arc. USA was 2 of 3 from the line. Little led the Jags with nine points and four rebounds.
Middle Tennessee countered shooting an even 50 percent on 12 of 24 from the field. The Blue Raiders were 2 of 7 from beyond the arc and made both free throws. Kevin Kanaskie led the team with eight points, while Kyle Young had seven rebounds.
The Blue Raiders had the lead on the boards 18-12, but committed nine turnovers in the opening half.
The Jaguars opened the half with a 4-0 run through the first 2:48 as Middle Tennessee head coach Kermit Davis had to call timeout. Little had a turnaround jumper in the lane and senior Leandro Buboltz drove to the bucket off an offensive rebound for a score to put the Jags up 31-28 with 17:12 to play.
Little took a thundering dunk to the hoop to put USA up 33-32 with just over 12 minutes left. Little came right back with another hoop and harm to put USA up 36-32 with 11:17 to play.
A steal by senior Stephen Cowherd and a layup by junior Daon Merritt put the Jags back up four with 9:23 to play.
USA took its biggest lead to that point as Buboltz hit his third trey of the game to put USA up 41-34 with just over eight minutes to play in the game. Two free throws by Bennett put the Jags up nine with 7:41 left.
Middle Tennessee ended a 6:34 drought with a turnaround jumper by Calvin O’Neil stopping a 14-0 run by the Jaguars since the 10:58 mark.
MTSU’s Desmond Yates hit a jumper to cut the deficit back to 14 with 3:33 to play, but four free throws and Little’s career-high 23rd point put the Jags back up by 20 and went on for a 61-38 victory.
USA outscored Middle Tennessee 34 to 10 in the second half as MTSU which was the lowest output against the Jaguars this season in a half. The Blue Raiders were just 5 of 20 from the field in the second stanza and had 11 turnovers in the second half and 20 for the game.
The Jaguars shot 42 percent from the field for the game on 22 of 52. Despite not having a solid night from beyond the arc (5-18), USA was 12 of 18 from the free throw line. Little led the team with 23 points and 13 rebounds. He was a career-best 9 of 13 from the field and 5 of 7 from the line. Also in double figures was Buboltz with 11 points and Merritt with 11 points.
Middle Tennessee only had one player in double figures in Theryn Hudson with 10 points on 5 of 6 from the field. Kevin Kanaskie, who was leading the team in scoring, was held to just eight points. Kanaskie made his first three shots of the game and did not make one the rest of the way.
The Blue Raiders shot 17 of 44 from the field for 38 percent and were just 2 of 15 from beyond the arc. MTSU went to the free throw line just two times tonight, both in the first half.
USA really got after it on the boards in the second half, out rebounding the Blue Raiders 32 to 28 for the game and 20 to 10 in the second half.
The Jaguars return home to take on Western Kentucky on Thursday at 7:05 p.m. at the Mitchell Center.
