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MOBILE, Ala. – Augustine Rubit (Houston, Texas) collected 13 points and 12 rebounds and Dre Conner (Lauderhill, Fla.) recorded the last of his career-high-tying four steals in the final two seconds to lead the University of South Alabama to a 60-58 Sun Belt Conference men's basketball victory over Florida International at the Mitchell Center Sunday.
It was Rubit’s second double-double in a row and 11th of the season, and it helped the Jaguars improve to 11-8 overall and 8-3 in the Sun Belt. Conner finished with a career-best six assists and six points as well.
“That was fun. It was probably a lot more fun to watch than to coach,” said USA interim head coach Jeff Price. “I just can’t say enough about our guys on how resilient they are, and how they fight and continue to overcome things. We got tired in the second half and I thought the first five minutes we really didn’t start well. I felt we got fatigued after that and got our heads down. But we found a way to fight back.
“It was just a great team effort, I’m just really happy for our guys.”
“South Alabama is a very good team with really good players. Jeff (Price) is a very good coach,” explained FIU head coach Richard Pitino, who saw his team fall to 11-9 overall and 6-5 in league play. “They hit some good shots because they are good players. You have to give all the credit to them; they won the game. Our guys competed in the second half the way I wanted them to, but all the credit goes to South Alabama.”
Trailing 51-46 with less than seven minutes remaining in the contest, Antoine Allen (Baltimore, Md.) found Javier Carter (Dallas, Texas) for a dunk and Rubit connected on 1-of-2 free throws, then Conner completed a three-point play with just under five minutes to go to put USA back in front. Marco Porcher Jiminez twice gave the Golden Panthers (11-9, 6-5 SBC) the lead back with a layup and a three from the left corner, but Barrington Stevens III (Allen, Texas) answered with a three-pointer at 3:29 that put the Jags ahead for good.
Allen added two free throws and Conner made one from there, but neither team was able to score in the final minute-and-a-half.
Allen contributed 11 points and Stevens finished with 10, hitting all three of his three-point attempts. Mychal Ammons (Vicksburg, Miss.) recorded nine points and five boards as well.
“I thought Barrington stepped up and made a couple of shots,” commented Price. “We’ve got to start relying more on Barrington to have a two-guard mentality because he’s a really good shooter. He knocked down a couple of shots. It’s going to be like this for this season; we have five guards and we can move Mychal out there if we have to; we feel like Mychal is more effective inside, though.”
Jerome Frink and Malik Smith scored 12 points apiece to pace FIU, with Tymell Murphy adding 11 and Porcher Jiminez 10. Frink was credited with seven rebounds to lead the team in that category as well.
USA was up 37-30 when Stevens split a pair of free throws, but the Golden Panthers would score 12 straight points over the next three-and-a-half minutes — with five each coming from Murphy and Smith — as part of a 15-2 run that left FIU ahead 45-39 with 11:40 left in the contest.
The Jags shot 40 percent from the field for the game, and had a 37-32 rebounding advantage. The Golden Panthers connected on 39.2 percent overall and turned the ball over 17 times.
The Jaguars scored seven straight points in a one-and-a-half minute span late in the first half to build their advantage to 31-20, highlighted by an Allen dunk and a three from Stevens 15 seconds apart. It was the second USA run of the half — after a Frink jumper pulled the Golden Panthers to within one, 8-7, with just under 17 minutes to go, the Jags scored 10 of the next 12 points for a nine-point lead with 13-and-a-half minutes left in the half. Stevens started the spurt with a trey from the right wing and Rubit hit two baskets in a 40-second stretch before an Allen three from the corner made the score 18-9.
The Jags have a two-game SBC road trip to Arkansas this week, with the first contest tipping off Thursday at 7:05 p.m. in Jonesboro against Arkansas State. The Red Wolves won the first matchup between the two schools, 63-54, on Dec. 29 in Mobile.
NOTES: USA is on a three-game win streak for the first time this season... South Alabama is now 11-0 this season when leading or tied at halftime... FIU's 22 points in the first half are the fewest points allowed by the Jaguars in a half this season... The USA's six-point rally is the largest by the team in the second half in 2012-13... Rubit ranks second in the conference in double-doubles (11)... He has five double-doubles in six career games vs. the Panthers... With the performance, Rubit needs 17 rebounds for 800 in his career; he already ranks second all-time in school history in the category... Stevens reached double figures in the scoring category for just the second time this season — he had a career-high 17 points in a win over UALR on Dec. 22... Allen has scored 10 or more points in three straight games after opening the season with four double-digit contests in USA’s first 16 outings... Carter has blocked at least one shot in 13 straight games after recording two against the Golden Panthers... Carter moved into 16th place in Sun Belt history for career blocks (170)... Rubit passed Jeff Hodge for fifth place in career free throws made at USA... Sunday marked the second time the Jaguars won when scoring fewer than 70 points (2-5, 2-3 SBC)... Conner has 17 points and five turnovers in his last three games and 22 and eight since entering the starting lineup on Jan. 10... With nine points, Ammons' double-digit scoring streak ends at five; the five straight games matched his career long.
For more information about South Alabama athletics, check back with www.usajaguars.com. Season tickets for all Jaguar athletic events can be purchased by calling (251) 461-1USA (1872).
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