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MOBILE, Ala. – North Texas’ Chris Jones hit a shot with 1.5 seconds left in regulation to force overtime and Tony Mitchell scored seven of his career-high 34 points in the extra frame to give North Texas a 78-73 win Thursday night at the Mitchell Center.

The Mean Green (9-7, 2-1 Sun Belt) made four of their seven shots in overtime while the Jags (8-5, 0-2) hit only three of their 12 attempts.

USA loses back-to-back games for the first time this season and is 0-2 in league play for the first time since the 2004-05 season.

“I think our guys gave it everything they had, but there were just too many errors,” said USA head coach Ronnie Arrow. “Free throws and turnovers, you just generally can’t win ball games like that.”

The Jaguars committed 24 miscues and shot 54.8 percent (17-31) from the foul line. The team came into the contest ranked 32nd in the nation in free throw percentage.

South Alabama was forced to play the final 33 minutes of the game without sophomore Augustine Rubit (Houston, Texas) who left at the 8:19 mark of the first half with a back contusion. Junior Xavier Roberson (Houston, Texas) re-injured his foot that forced him to missed five games in December and left the game with four minutes left in overtime.

“That really hurt when Aug went down,” said Arrow. “He only played 11 minutes and that stat that says (North Texas had) 40 points in the paint; I don’t think it would’ve been that. It is what it is. We had two key guys out, one for just about the whole game and one with about four minutes left in overtime. We had to play some guys out of position because of that situation. We had to move Mychal Ammons inside and he hadn’t played that much inside. We’re just going to have to dig deeper.”

Down 63-57 with 4:14 left in the second half, South Alabama went on an 8-0 run over the next four minutes to take a two-point lead. After two free throws from Jones, junior Freddie Goldstein (Milwaukee, Wis.) answered on the Jags’ next possession with a 3-pointer. The Mean Green turned the ball over on their next trip down the floor and South Alabama converted it into two points on a Javier Carter (Dallas, Texas) follow dunk.

It took almost two minutes for either team to score again, but USA senior Antione Lundy (Saginaw, Mich.) hit a layup with 1:01 left to give the Jaguars the lead (64-63) for the first time since early in the second half.

Lundy went to the line with 19 seconds remaining for two free throws, but only converted one, setting up Jones’ tying shot.

Following a timeout, South Alabama threw away the inbounds pass, giving North Texas the ball under the basket, but a 3-pointer by Jones was off the mark.

NT struck first in the extra frame but junior Trey Anderson (Carrollton, Texas) converted a turnover into three points. The Mean Green responded immediately with a layup to start a 6-0 run.

South Alabama countered with three points on a free throw by freshman Mychal Ammons (Vicksburg, Miss.) and a second-chance layup by Anderson off an Ammons miss. But North Texas got a dunk from Mitchell with 1:39 left to kick the lead back up to 75-71, and a minute later, Mitchell hit twice at the free throw line for a six-point advantage.

“I thought our guys came in and gave a great effort,” said Mean Green head coach Johnny Jones. “We played stronger tip-to-finish tonight than we have been on the road. In the end when they gained momentum, we stayed strong. In the overtime our guys got off to a great start and made some big plays. We got necessary stops and finished strong to win tonight. When you talk about knock-down, drag-outs, that’s what this game was. I thought our guys did a good job responding to South Alabama’s toughness.”

The Jags got career nights out of Goldstein (21 points) and Anderson (14 points) and Lundy’s third career double-double (13 points, 14 rebounds). Roberson totaled 10 points and a season-best five assists in 25 minutes before leaving the game.

Carter had three blocks to move past Ronald Douglas into fourth place on USA’s all-time blocks list.

Mitchell added a game-high 16 rebounds. It is North Texas biggest combined point-and-rebound performance since 1982.

“I thought Tony played an excellent game tonight,” said Jones. “He did a great job to stay out of foul trouble and he did well guarding some very tough post players.”

South Alabama closes out the weekend homestand Saturday afternoon against Denver at 3:30 p.m. The game will be televised on the Sun Belt Network and ESPN3.com.

NOTES: Rubit’s streak of three straight double-doubles ended… Carter recorded three blocks to extend his run to 10 games with at least one rejection… The team’s eight 3-pointers tie a season-high… The Jags outrebounded the Mean Green 43-41, and have done so for 10 consecutive games… After going 7-0 when a USA player has a double-double, the team has now lost two in a row… The Jags lost for the first time when leading at halftime (5-1)… Lundy’s rebounding total ties a career-high and ties the most by a USA player this season… Goldstein played all but one minute of the contest… North Texas has won three straight over the Jags for the first time in the program’s history.

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—