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CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas – A last-second 3-point attempt by Texas A&M-Corpus Christi was off the mark and the University of South Alabama men’s basketball team escaped with a 66-64 win Thursday night at the American Bank Center.

The Jaguars improve to 6-3 while the Islanders drop to 1-6.

USA head coach Ronnie Arrow made a triumphant return to the school where he started the basketball program in 1999 and took the Islanders to the 2007 NCAA Tournament.

“I said yesterday when we had a get-together here that we’d take a one-point win and go back to Mobile. We’ll also take a two-point win and go home,” said Arrow. “I got to see a lot of people, but the main thing is, we came here to do one thing and that was to win and we were able to hold on in the end and do that.”

Sophomore Augustine Rubit (Houston, Texas) scored 10 of his team-high 13 points in the second half and grabbed eight rebounds in the winning effort. Junior Freddie Goldstein (Milwaukee, Wis.) added 12 points on 4 of 7 shooting from behind the arc and sophomore Dallas Jones (New Market, Ala.) totaled a career-high 11 points.

Senior Antione Lundy (Saginaw, Mich.) grabbed 10 rebounds for the Jags.

TAMUCC got half of their offensive production from two players: Terence Jones and Chris Mast-Hawkins, who tallied 17 and 15 points, respectively. Jones went 4 of 7 from 3-point land and Mast-Hawkins pulled down a team-best eight rebounds.

The Jags led by as many as seven points in the second half but never trailed as the Islanders were unable to take the lead. Texas A&M-Corpus Christi pulled to within one on two occasions in the final six minutes, only to see South Alabama answer each time.

A Mast-Hawkins layup with 5:23 left in the contest made it a 58-57 contest, but Goldstein hit a 3-pointer from the right wing to push the advantage back up to four.

At the 2:04 mark, Hameed Ali nailed a trey to cut the Jaguars’ lead to 63-62, however Rubit responded with an old-fashioned three-point play on USA’s next possession for another four-point margin.

Jones converted twice at the free throw line with 1:26 left in the contest, but neither team scored the rest of the way.

After the Jaguars missed a layup, the Islanders called timeout with 8.3 seconds left. Ali’s attempt hit the rim and bounced off as the buzzer sounded.

“On that last possession, we got them to take a bad shot,” said Arrow.

The Islanders shot just 13-for-25 from the free throw line. Jones missed six of his nine attempts at the charity stripe, including three in a row after being fouled on a 3-point attempt.

South Alabama hosts its last home contest before Christmas Monday night at 7:05 p.m. against Georgia Southern.

NOTES: South Alabama is now 6-1 when outrebounding its opponent (36-30 tonight)… Junior Javier Carter (Dallas, Texas) blocked five shots, all in the first half… The Jags made their first five 3-point attempts of the night and finished 7-for-14… The seven treys are a new season high… Texas A&M-Corpus Christi also made their first five long-range attempts, with four from Jones… Goldstein’s four treys are the most by a USA player this season… The Jaguars committed a season-worst 20 turnovers and had just nine assists… Rubit played only four minutes in the first half due to foul trouble, but eventually scored the 500th point in his career… TAMUCC’s point total is the second highest this season and the team scored more than 60 for the second time this season.

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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