Box Score (html)
Box Score (pdf)
Photo Gallery

MOBILE, Ala. – Sophomore Augustine Rubit (Houston, Texas) and senior Antione Lundy (Saginaw, Mich.) each recorded double-doubles and the University of South Alabama men’s basketball team totaled 38 points in the paint to give the Jaguars a 70-57 win over Georgia Southern Monday night at the Mitchell Center.

The Jaguars have won their third straight game and six of their last seven outings to improve to 7-3 on the season. The Eagles fall to 3-6.

Defensively, USA held GSU to 29.8 percent shooting and two long stretches in each half without a field goal.

“I thought our guys did what we had to do tonight to win,” said USA head coach Ronnie Arrow. “I thought our defense was really good. In the first half, the press got us going. It got us the lead. We had to come out of it and, if I’m not mistaken, when we came out of it they scored four straight times. The press really, really helped us in the first and second half.”

Rubit tallied 17 points and 10 rebounds while Lundy posted totals of 16 points and 12 boards. It is Rubit’s fourth double-double of the year and Lundy’s second.

“Those two are our manpower in there,” Arrow said. “Javier (Carter) is a shot blocker. Lundy is more of a beast on the boards, and Aug rebounds and shot blocks. We’ve got three guys there that I feel like can do a lot of things for us in there physically.”

The Jags dominated inside, outscoring the Eagles 38-8 in the paint, and had 23 second-chance points on 16 offensive rebounds.

“When you get offensive rebounds and you’re right there underneath the bucket, those lead to points, and that’s what we tell our guys,” Arrow said. “‘Rebound on the offensive boards because the points are right there to get.’”

“We had the same type game (tonight) with (South Alabama) last year – one where we actually jumped on them early, but the second half was just a slugfest,” said GSU head coach Charlton Young. “They are a very physical team, not that tall, but they have a lot of big, burly guys that makes for a tough matchup for us, because we are leaner, quicker and athletic. We just got pushed around. They out-rebounded us 42 to 28. They just out-physicaled us tonight.”

South Alabama used a 10-0 run early in the first half to take control. The Eagles went over 4 ½ minutes without a point, going 0-for-9 from the floor with three turnovers.

USA hit only 33.3 percent of their field goals in the second half after compiling a 51.7 percentage in the first half. But while the offense struggled, the defense kept GSU from seriously challenging, holding the Eagles to 21.7 percent (5-23) from the field.

South Alabama took its largest lead of the game—16—at the 16:55 mark of the final period after a Lundy layup. Georgia Southern answered with a 7-0 run to get to within nine, and later, cut the deficit to nine again with 12:42 to play on a 3-pointer by Tré Bussey.

That would be the Eagles’ last field goal for the next 10:28 as GSU would miss its next nine shots, but got 15 straight points at the free throw line, scoring on four straight possessions with nine consecutive makes at the charity stripe.

Georgia Southern finally ended its drought with a jumper from Ben Drayton III to get to within 62-54 at the 2:13 mark, but missed on its next two trips down the floor. South Alabama went 4-for-4 at the free throw line to take a 12-point lead and GSU got no closer than nine the rest of the way.

“If we hold teams to 29 percent shooting, we’re going to win a lot of games,” Arrow commented. “This team, this year, hopefully will get better and better and just get more and more rebounds and more and more blocked shots. We’re starting to get an identity about ourselves as a tough, rebounding, shot-blocking team. That makes it easier for our guards to put more pressure outside.”

Lundy and Rubit were the Jaguars’ only two players in double-digit scoring or rebounding. Willie Powers had 16 points for the Eagles and Drayton finished with 11 points and five assists.

South Alabama travels to Las Vegas, Nev. to play San Diego in the Las Vegas Holiday Hoops Classic at South Point Casino. It will be the Jags’ final pre-Christmas contest.

NOTES: USA won the battle of the boards 42-28 and goes to 7-1 when outrebounding its opponent… The Jags are 3-1 this season when Rubit records a double-double… Carter had one block, his fewest since being shut out at Florida State on Nov. 20, but extends his streak to seven games with a rejection… The Jaguars’ total of two is also the team’s fewest since the FSU game—they had at least six over the previous six contests… GSU’s Eric Ferguson, who came into the game as the Southern Conference’s second-leading scorer (16.7 ppg) was held to two points in the first half and eight for the contest… Georgia Southern has shot 10-for-47 (21.3%) from the floor in its last two games with South Alabama (5-for-24 last year and 5-for-23 tonight)… GSU committed 12 turnovers in the first half—leading to 17 USA points—but had just miscues after intermission.

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).

—USA—