Official Game Statistics
MURFREESBORO, Tenn. -- Middle Tennessee jumped out to an 11-2 lead and never trailed in defeating South Alabama 76-70 Thursday night at the Murphy Center. Daon Merritt led four Jaguars in double figures with 16 points.
DeAndre Coleman added 13 points and a team-high six rebounds, while Ronald Douglas chipped in 12 points. Brandon Davis tallied 12 points, but Demetric Bennett, South's leading scorer, failed to reach double figures for only the second time all season with nine points. Four Blue Raiders reached double figures, led by Desmond Yates' 26 points.
The Blue Raiders (12-12, 9-5) led by as many as 16 points in the first half after shooting 55.6 percent (15 of 27) from the field in the opening period. They hit six of 13 shots from behind the arc, while holding the Jaguars without a three-pointer and to just 41.4 percent shooting in the period. After scoring the first four points, Middle Tennessee answered a Jaguar basket with seven straight points for an 11-2 advantage. The lead reached double figues for the first time on a free throw that made the score 18-8 with 13:18 remaining.
The margin reached its biggest point, 32-16, after Desmond Yates converted a layp with 6:24 remaining in the half. The Blue Raiders led 43-29 at the break.
South Alabama (20-5, 12-1) tried to rally on three separate occasions in the second half, but each time Middle Tennessee had an answer. Trailing by 16 again, 57-41 with 15:07 to play, the Jaguars scored 12 straight points over the next four minutes to close the gap to 57-53, only to see the Blue Raiders' Demetrius Green convert a conventional three-point play to push the lead back to seven, 62-55. South cut the lead to three, 64-61, on a layup by Brandon Davis with 7:52 left, but five straight Blue Raider points made the score 69-61 with 5:53 remaining.
Finally, South Alabama closed to within four, 69-65, at the 3:18 mark, but the Jaguars missed six straight shots before a late three made the final margin 6. During that same span, Middle Tennessee never pulled away, hitting only three of its six fouls shot.
"Middle Tennessee is a well-coached team and they have some good talent," South Alabama head coach Ronnie Arrow said. "We just for whatever reason did not show up ready to play tonight. I thought Daniel (Hayles) really brought some defensive effort to us tonight, but we just didn’t play well as a team."
South Alabama committed only nine turnover and finished with a shooting percentage of .458, but were outplayed behind the three-point line. The Jaguars made only four threes during the contest, while Middle blistered the nets for 47.7 percent (nine of 19) outside the arc. The Blue Raiders also made it to the free throw stripe 13 times more than the Jaguars (23-10), negating a season-long strength for USA.
Losers for just the second time in 18 games, South Alabama returns home from its road trip Saturday to face Florida Atlantic. The near-sellout against Florida Atlantic. Tip-off for the men's game is expected around 7 p.m. after the women's game and a campus Bell Tower groundbreaking ceremony.
