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HOT SPRINGS, Ark. – Denver held the University of South Alabama without a field goal in the final eight minutes and without a point in the last 5:06, scoring the game's final nine points, to advance to the Sun Belt Conference Men’s Basketball Tournament semifinals with a 61-50 win Sunday night at Convention Center Court.

The No. 3 seed Pioneers (22-8) move on to play No. 7 seed Western Kentucky tomorrow night. The sixth-seeded Jaguars finish with a 17-12 record.

“You can’t make mistakes like we made,” said USA head coach Ronnie Arrow. “I don’t know how many times we cut it to one or two points and we just made a defensive error or didn’t come up with a loose ball. I thought we played hard, we just didn’t do the little things. When it got down to cutting it to one or two points, we turned the ball over or took a bad shot and they would go back up five or six. Seventeen turnovers against a team that doesn’t pressure you are too many.”

Denver had Brian Stafford and Rob Lewis share team-high honors with 14 points each. Royce O’Neale had 11 points and 10 rebounds.

USA sophomore Augustine Rubit (Houston, Texas) led all scorers with 21 points and freshman Mychal Ammons (Vicksburg, Miss.) recorded his first career double-double with 15 points and 12 rebounds. The pair combined for 36 of the team’s 50 points.

The final five minutes belonged to the Pioneers. After two free throws from Rubit made the score 52-50, Chris Udofia hit a layup on DU’s next possession, and after a USA miss, Brett Olson converted twice at the charity stripe for a six-point advantage.

Neither team scored the next two minutes until Olson nailed a 3-pointer to put Denver up 59-50.

South Alabama missed its last nine shots of the contest.

The Pioneers led for the entire second half and were up by as many as 10 points early in the period. The Jaguars cut the deficit to four at the 10:49 mark, and after back-to-back 3-pointers from Ammons and junior Freddie Goldstein (Milwaukee, Wis.), South Alabama trailed 46-45 with 8:03 left.

Goldstein’s triple would be the Jags’ last field goal of the contest. DU’s Justin Coughlin answered on the other end with a trifecta of his own, but Ammons and Rubit kept USA alive at the foul line, making 5 of 6 at the stripe.

Rubit converted twice at the line at the 5:06 mark for the Jaguars’ final points of the night.

NOTES: South Alabama’s 50 points are the program’s fewest in the Sun Belt Tournament since scoring 47 in a loss to Middle Tennessee in 2002… Junior Javier Carter (Dallas, Texas) blocked two shots, bringing his season total to 72 which are third-most in USA history… Rubit is the first South Alabama player to lead the team in scoring, rebounding and field goal percentage since Mark Neal in 1996… Both teams had 31 rebounds… The Jags had six assists and 17 turnovers… USA is 0-3 on Convention Center Court in Hot Springs (4-1 in Summit Arena)… Rubit had just two rebounds, his lowest total in a game this season and tied for his career low… His career-long double-double streak ends at four.

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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