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MOBILE, Ala. – Arkansas State held the University of South Alabama men's basketball team to a season-low 27.4 percent shooting for the contest and never trailed in a 63-54 win Saturday night at the Mitchell Center.

The Jaguars fall to 6-6 overall and 3-1 in the Sun Belt Conference, while the Red Wolves improve to 8-5 and 2-2.

ASU held the Jags to 4-for-27 (14.8 percent) shooting from 3-point land and forced 17 USA turnovers.

“You don’t have to look too hard to see what the main problem was,” said USA interim head coach Jeff Price. “We shot 27 percent from the field. Defensively I thought we were okay. Anytime you hold a team to 38 percent you’re doing pretty darn good. I thought we were good on that end we just didn’t do as good of a job in this game of manufacturing points.”

Arkansas State didn’t fare much better on its attempts, converting 38.2 percent, tied for the second lowest by a USA opponent all season, but the Red Wolves hit 42.9 percent after halftime compared to 30.0 percent for the Jags.

“We weren’t just not making shots outside,” Price said. “Think about how many inside just rolled around in the rim and could have been three-point plays and they went out of the basket. It just seemed like there was a lid on it all night. It was just one of those nights. Again, I thought defensively we were good enough to win the game. It’s ironic that the two top scoring teams come in to the game and the score ends up 63-54, but we just have to keep plugging away.”

South Alabama’s shooting struggles started from the opening tip. The Jaguars missed their first seven shots and committed three turnovers before finally getting on the board with 15:14 left in the first half.

Arkansas State, the Sun Belt’s leading team in steals, turnover margin and turnovers forced per game, harried South Alabama into 12 first-half miscues on six steals and turned them into nine points.

“We made too many turnovers in the first half,” Price noted. “Twelve turnovers in the first half cost us. We just have to get better and that’s on me. I have to make us better and get us to understand better.”

The Red Wolves used a 10-2 run midway through the second half to open up a 50-37 advantage, but the Jaguars answered with an 11-2 spurt, getting the first six points from the foul line before sophomore Mychal Ammons (Vicksburg, Miss.) hit a jumper and senior Freddie Goldstein (Milwaukee, Wis.) hit his only 3-pointer of the night to pull within 52-48 with 5:22 left.

Rakeem Dickerson answered with a 3-pointer on ASU’s next possession and South Alabama made just two field goals the rest of the contest—both by junior Augustine Rubit (Houston, Texas)—and Arkansas State went 5-for-7 at the free throw line in the final 44 seconds.

“Both teams had a poor shooting percentage tonight,” Arkansas State head coach John Brady said. “We both missed some shots that we normally make, but I have to credit our team with how they played defensively. We played with a lot of effort defensively, and we tried to take Rubit out of the game.”

Rubit led all players with 20 points and 17 rebounds, and had 11 and 11 in the second half alone. He recorded his seventh double-double of the year and fourth in a row to tie a personal-long streak. Junior Antoine Allen (Baltimore, Md.) was the only other Jag in double-digits with 11.

Brandon Peterson and Dickerson shared team-high honors with 15 points apiece. Trey Finn and Ed Townsel grabbed nine rebounds each.

South Alabama opens the 2013 calendar year on the road Jan. 3 against Louisiana at Monroe. Tip-off is scheduled for 7:30 p.m.

NOTES: Rubit’s rebounding total is tied for fifth most in his career… He ranks second in the Sun Belt with seven double-doubles this season… Rubit moved past former All-American Michael Gerren for 13th on USA’s career scoring list with 1,036 and needs 12 to move into 12th place… Rubit is averaging 21.5 points and 14.3 rebounds in his last four games… Townsel, the third-leading scorer in the conference, was held to nine points… Peterson came into the contest second in the SBC behind Rubit in rebounding per game at 10.1 but had only seven boards... Ammons played just four minutes in the first half due to foul trouble, but finished with nine rebounds before eventually fouling out… USA’s 47 rebounds are a new season high… One game after posting a season-best plus-five turnover margin last week vs. UALR, the Jaguars had a season-low six assists with 17 turnovers.

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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