HOUSTON --- The University of South Alabama men’s basketball team held Houston Baptist to 34.9 percent shooting for the contest and freshman Martino Brock (Memphis, Tenn.) scored a team-high 21 points to lead the Jaguars to a 76-64 season-opening victory Friday night at the Rice Basketball Challenge in Tudor Fieldhouse.

USA wins its opener for the fifth straight season while head coach Ronnie Arrow starts 1-0 for the 14th consecutive year, dating back to 1992. The Jaguars face host Rice Saturday night at 7:30 p.m.

“It’s always good to win the first one,” said Arrow. “We had some guys that played well and executed at the end. We still have rebounding issues. We’re small, but we’re going to have to get tougher on the boards. We gave up far too many rebounds and didn’t guard the post. We made their post man look like an All-American. Not to take anything away from him but we have to get tougher inside. Overall, for the first game, it was good and now we take on the home team.”

Brock shared game-high scoring honors with HBU’s Mario Flaherty and grabbed nine rebounds with two blocks. Brock went 5-for-5 from the field in the second half alone.

“Martino is a volcano, always erupting,” said Arrow. “He has one gear: third gear. There’s no first or second gear. Sometimes he might screw up but it’s not because he’s not sticking his nose in somewhere. He’s going to be a really good player. We’ve got to get him stronger but he’s just so quick. He’s learning to finish inside.”

Senior LaShun Watson (Greenville, Ga.) came off the bench to score 17 points and junior Tim Williams (Pontiac, Mich.) grabbed a game-best 12 rebounds. Junior Raymond Sims (Philadelphia, Pa.) led all players with six assists.

“It’s great to see 17 assists,” said Arrow. “Doodles (Sims) had six of them. That’s what we need from him.”

Flaherty paced the Houston Baptist offense with 21 points, but only six came after halftime.

A jumper by HBU’s Michael Moss with 17:01 to play in the game brought the Huskies to within three, 38-35. A 10-3 South Alabama run put the Jaguars ahead by 10 and Houston Baptist got no closer than eight the rest of the way.

“We did a good job in our zone,” said Arrow. “We limited them to one shot. We weren’t rebounding in our man (defense) so we went to our zone and that’s when we took our big lead.”

While USA went without a 3-pointer, shooting 0-for-5, HBU didn’t fare much better converting just one of its 15 long-range attempts.

“One of our main things coming in to the game was guarding the 3-point line and we did it,” said Arrow.

The Jaguars used a 12-2 run midway through the first half to extend a one-point lead (11-10) to an eleven-point advantage (23-12) but the Huskies responded with 10 straight points to cut it back to one.

USA led at halftime 35-30.

NOTES: Six USA players made their senior college debuts… Senior Bryan Sherrer (Monticello, Ark.) scored the first point of the season at the 18:44 mark on a free throw… South Alabama went without a 3-pointer for the first time since Jan. 29, 2009 at Denver (0-for-6)… The Jags won the rebounding battle 45-39 and 22-16 in the second half alone… Freshman Javier Carter (Dallas, Texas) blocked three shots in the second half.

For more information about South Alabama athletics, check back with www.usajaguars.com.  Season tickets for all Jaguar athletic events can be purchased by calling (251) 461-1USA (1872).

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