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AUSTIN, Texas – Texas outscored the University of South Alabama men's basketball team 53-32 in the second half, including a 20-5 run to close the game to defeat the Jaguars 84-77 Tuesday night at the Frank Erwin Center.

The game was part of the CBE Hall of Fame Classic.

The Longhorns got a game-high 23 points from Jonathan Holmes and shot 52.8 percent from the floor after halftime. Texas also outrebounded the Jags 27-9 in the second half and held USA to two field goals in the final 8:23.

"First and foremost, I thought our team was well prepared," Jaguar head coach Matthew Graves said. "Our coaching staff did an excellent job of having our guys ready. We came out and attacked well versus their zone early. We did shoot a lot of 3s, but at the same time, when we went back and talked about it at halftime, they were good shots. We've got an undersized ballclub, but we have five starters that are all capable of making 3s.

"In the second half, when Texas switched to their man-to-man defense, I was really disappointed with our ability to attack them. I thought once we had them spread out a little bit, we ended up driving the ball too much and we didn't make the extra pass like we did in the first half. We had 10 assists in the first half and two in the second half. Against a man-versus-zone, it really shouldn't be like that."

South Alabama senior Augustine Rubit (Houston, Texas) scored a team-high 22 points—including the first two 3-pointers of his career—and had a USA-best eight rebounds.

The Jags as a team converted 13 times from behind the arc—two shy of the school record—with six making at least one. Senior Antoine Allen (Baltimore, Md.) had four first-half triples to tie his personal best and junior Mychal Ammons (Vicksburg, Miss.) also had four to go along with 16 points.

Trailing 72-64 with 7:30 left to play after two free throws from Rubit, Texas answered on its next possession on a jumper from Holmes to start a 9-0 run to take its first lead since the opening moments of the contest.

South Alabama missed five straight shots with one turnover, while Texas scored on four straight possessions to pull within one, then later converted a USA miss into two points to take a 73-72 lead with 4:10 to play.

Ammons hit his fourth 3-pointer of the contest on the Jaguars' next trip down the floor to go up two, but the Longhorns tied the game again at the 3:21 mark with a second-chance jumper.

Just under a minute later, Ammons made a layup for a 77-75 advantage, but those would be the Jags' final points of the contest as UT made two free throws on its next possession, forced a stop and converted it into a fast-break layup.

Texas scored on its final five trips down the floor and South Alabama missed its last five shots.

"You have to credit Texas," Graves said. "We had them down early and it's a credit to them and their coaching staff that their players didn't hang their head and they came back and fought. Unfortunately we were on the wrong end tonight."

Holmes scored 15 of his 23 points after halftime. He went 5-for-9 from the floor after the break, 2-for-4 from 3-point territory, and added six rebounds and two blocks.

"He's outstanding," Graves said of Holmes. "I like the energy he plays with, and for a kid his size, to be able to step out on the floor, catch-and-shoot 3s… He'd be a great player in our system with the way we like to spread the floor. His ability to rip-and-drive the basketball with his right hand is outstanding."

Isaiah Taylor totaled 13 points and five assists while Javan Felix tallied 15 points and four helpers for the Longhorns.

Texas held a 42-10 scoring advantage in the paint with 24 of those points coming in the second half.

"I thought we really struggled with getting back and getting our defense set," Graves noted. "We need to do a better job of building a wall in transition. They were setting that middle ballscreen and our hedges were not very good. We need to continue to work on that."

The first half was all South Alabama. Texas scored the first two points of the contest but allowed the next six, and after back-to-back 3s from Rubit and Ammons, freshman Ken Williams (Manvel, Texas) made three at the charity stripe for a 15-6 advantage.

UT cut the deficit to four with 5:30 to play before halftime but a 13-1 USA spurt, including 11 unanswered gave the Jags a 42-26 lead.

"We were playing within the offense, and assists per field goals is great stat to use, and in the first half we had 10 assists and in the second half we only had two," said Graves. "There was a similar theme in the Detroit game where in the second half we really struggled sharing the basketball. We need to learn from that because there are 40 minutes of basketball, not 20."

South Alabama starts a four-game homestand Monday at 7:05 p.m. against William Carey.

NOTES: South Alabama lost a game when they had a double-digit second-half lead for the first time since Nov. 26, 2008 vs. Arkansas… USA is 1-7 in true road games in the state of Texas since the start of the 2007-08 season and falls to 0-3 in Austin… The Jags have scored 45 points in the first half in each of their first two games – that matches the program's highest total in the last four years… Rubit moved into sixth place in school history with 1,421 points, passing Demetric Bennett (1,405)… Rubit missed his first 13 career 3-point attempts before hitting his second attempt of the evening… He is currently tied for sixth at USA in career blocks (95) and is one shy of third for career free throws made (423)… He also needs two field goals for 500 in his career… Rubit has a four-game stretch of single-digit rebounds to tie the longest streak of his career… Five different Jaguars dished out two assists apiece.

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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