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MOBILE, Ala. – A 19-1 University of South Alabama run in the second half was more than enough as the Jaguar men’s basketball team routed cross-town rival Spring Hill 81-53 in their season opener Friday night.

USA wins its home-opening game for the 19th straight year and its season-opening game for sixth consecutive season. The game is considered an exhibition for Spring Hill, a member of NAIA Division I, which remains at 1-1.

“Other than the free throws and not reversing the ball, I thought we did some good things,” said USA head coach Ronnie Arrow. “I thought that we should’ve out rebounded them more, but certain guys are going to have to get more rebounds than what they’ve been doing for us. Needless to say Aug (Rubit) is pulling his weight. We’ve got to have some other guys getting more rebounds than what they’re getting. I thought our two point guards got in and did a good job. Between the two of them they had three turnovers which is really good.”

South Alabama outscored Spring Hill 44-27 in the second half alone while converting 53.1 percent from the floor, compared to only 37.5 percent in the opening 20 minutes.

Redshirt freshman Augustine Rubit (Houston, Texas) recorded a double-double in his first official collegiate game with 16 points and 15 rebounds. He had 15 points and nine rebounds in the first half alone.

Sophomore Martino Brock led the charge in the second half with 10 points and made five of his six shots from the field. He tied Rubit for game-high scoring honors with 16 points and added a game-best four steals to tie his career-high.

“I thought Martino played with the energy that we need him playing,” said Arrow. “He is a guy that cannot play without energy. We moved him and put him on the point guard, which gave him more time on the ball. He has a tendency when he’s off the ball to stand around so I thought that that got him going. I was real happy with that.”

The Jaguars led by 11 at halftime and by 12 when they started their back-breaking run. Sophomore Rico Sanders (College Park, Ga.) scored all 12 of his points from beyond the arc in that 4:31 span with four trifectas on four straight attempts.

“This game is made very, very easy when you penetrate and shoot 3s in the hole,” said Arrow. “It makes great plays and he did that. That’s what we brought him to do. He’s the specialist we brought in for 3-point shooting and tonight he did that. We’ve got to continue to do that.”

Sanders accounted for 12 of the team’s 19 points during the run and senior Tim Williams (Pontiac, Mich.) finished off the rally with two free throws and a lay-up for a 30-point lead.

Spring Hill missed 10 consecutive shots at one point while South Alabama converted on 6-of-8 attempts.

South Alabama led by 11 at halftime despite poor free-throw shooting. After USA made seven of its first eight at the charity stripe, the team proceeded to miss 14 of its next 16.

“It’s got to concern me,” said Arrow of the Jags’ woes at the line. “We work on them and work on them. We’re just going to have to spend more time on them and our guys are going to have to concentrate more when we do work on them. I don’t know if I’ve ever had, in one helping, that bad of free throw shooting. To get fouled is one thing, but then you’ve got to finish it by making the free throw. I thought we did well in drawing fouls, but we’ve got to make the free throws.”

Steve Edwards came off the bench to hit a game-high 17 points for the Badgers, and Kyle Watkins reached double-digits with 10. Nick Brown, who came into the game averaging 23 points and 10 rebounds, was held to four points while battling foul trouble.

“I think (head coach) Robert (Thompson) does a very good job of getting his guys to be disciplined and run their stuff and, I guarantee you, if you don’t help from the back side, (Brown) is going to score a whole bunch of lay-ups,” said Arrow. “We took away the back side.”

South Alabama hits the road Wednesday for a game at Southern Miss. Start time is 7 p.m.

NOTES: The last USA player to tally a double-double in a season-opening game was Brandon Davis vs. Alcorn State in 2008… The Jaguars finished the game with a 45.7 free throw percentage, the program’s lowest with at least 20 attempts since Nov. 13, 2007… South Alabama accumulated 31 points off 25 Spring Hill turnovers; 13 of the team’s first 19 points were off SHC miscues… Sanders’s four 3-pointers tie the most by any USA player all of last year… Sophomore DeAndré Hersey (Carrollton, Ala.) swatted a career-high three shots… The Jaguars’ first five points came at the free throw line.

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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