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MOBILE, Ala. – Thanks to a season-high 11 blocks, the University of South Alabama men’s basketball team held UAB to 31.6 percent shooting for the game and held off a late charge to win 55-47 Wednesday night at the Mitchell Center.

The Jaguars snap a six-game losing streak to UAB and get over the .500 mark with a 3-2 record. The Blazers fall to 1-5.

Seven of USA’s 11 rejections came from junior Javier Carter (Dallas, Texas), who posted a new career high in the category. Carter’s blocks are also tied for fourth-most in a single game in school history.

“I thought our defense was really good,” said USA head coach Ronnie Arrow. “In today’s game, if you have guys that are going to guard the hole for you like Javier, it makes a big difference. I’ve been telling him for three years that he ought to lead the nation in blocked shots. (UAB’s) Cameron Moore, as of now, leads the nation in blocked shots. I think he could be every bit of what Cameron is. Javier had five against LSU and seven tonight. There’s no telling how many other ones he altered.”

Junior Augustine Rubit (Houston, Texas) tied his personal best with three blocks and notched his second double-double of the season with 14 points and 10 rebounds.

Rubit shared game-high honors with junior Xavier Roberson (Houston, Texas) who added 14 points. Roberson connected on three of his four 3-point attempts. Junior Freddie Goldstein (Milwaukee, Wis.) tallied 11 points and four assists with no turnovers.

“We just have to keep getting better,” commented Arrow. “I thought at LSU we learned how to win. I thought tonight we did what we had to do to win. We got each other good shots, but we need to run our offense better and get even better shots. I thought our post men, especially the first half, weren’t finishing for us. UAB had something to do with that too. I’m really proud of our guys. We’ve got three more games at home and we need to take care of our home court.”

Moore finished the night with a team-best 13 points, six rebounds and two blocks.

Neither team shot well from the floor as South Alabama only converted 40.0 percent (18-45) for the game, but hit 45.0 percent after halftime. The two teams came out cold, making just nine of the first 34 shots of the contest.

The Blazers went without a field goal for almost seven minutes in the first half, going 0-for-6 with two turnovers allowing the Jaguars to go on a 11-3 run and take a 19-12 lead at the 5:00 mark.

UAB finally ended the drought with a 3-pointer from Jordan Swing and traded buckets a minute later to stay within four, but a USA free throw and back-to-back buckets from Goldstein, the second a 3-pointer, gave the Jags their biggest lead of the contest (10) with just under a minute before halftime.

The second-half lead stretched to as much as 15 early in the second period after a jumper from Carter. The Jaguars found their shooting touch during the intermission, making seven of their first 11 shots to maintain a double-digit margin.

“I thought that when we ran our offense, midway through the second half, we penetrated, we flowed through it, we were wide open and we nailed the shots,” Arrow noted. “That’s what we want to do.”

The Blazers made it interesting with a 9-3 run over a three-minute period to get to 47-41 with 2:39 to play in the game and made it a 49-45 contest with 23 seconds left. But two free throws each by Rubit and Goldstein sandwiched by a block from Carter put the game out of reach.

“LSU was one to build off of, but you always want to win at home,” Arrow said. “We had a nice crowd tonight. Hopefully they saw things that they liked and they’ll tell people and we’ll get more and more people here.”

South Alabama continues its homestand Saturday night at 7:05 p.m. against Alabama A&M.

NOTES: Goldstein earned his first career start tonight… Carter’s block total is the highest by a Jaguar since Frank Wilson set the school record of nine on Dec. 20, 1994… Rubit’s double-double is the 16th of his career… USA led at halftime for the first time this season… UAB’s 23.1 shooting percentage in the first half is the lowest by a USA opponent since holding Georgia Southern to 20.8 percent on Dec. 18, 2010… Rubit has led the team in scoring in every game this season… Not only had the Jags lost six straight to UAB, they had dropped six consecutive games to Conference USA opponents dating back to the 2009-10 season… South Alabama last defeated UAB in 1996.

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

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