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MOBILE, Ala. – University of South Alabama senior Augustine Rubit (Houston, Texas) posted game-high totals of 23 points and 13 rebounds, and set a new school career rebounding record in the Jaguars' 74-70 victory over Wright State Saturday afternoon in the CBE Hall of Fame Classic at the Mitchell Center.

The Jags bounced back from a comeback loss to Southern Miss Friday to improve to 3-2 on the season while the Raiders fall to 3-3.

"I was really pleased to see how we responded from a tough game last night," USA head coach Matthew Graves said. "The thing I told them last night is that Wright State doesn't care that you lost a tough game. We knew the environment this morning would not be like last night.

"I told them we have to create our own energy, enthusiasm and play with great effort. I thought we did that today. I think the first half we shot the ball extremely well, but the turnover bug kind of reared its ugly head there in the first half. We were shooting such a good percentage it kind of masked some of our deficiencies."

Rubit recorded his second double-double of the season and 44th of his career, and passed former All-American Terry Catledge late in the first half with his 933rd career rebound. Rubit finished the game with 940, good enough to move into third all-time in Sun Belt Conference history as well.

"We're excited for him," Graves said. "He's earned that. We're hoping that he puts a lot of distance between him and the second place in rebounds and continues to do that for us."

After scoring 13 points in the first half, Rubit was shut out for the first 10 minutes of the second half but finished with a new season-high point total, including two 3-pointers.

"What we were really excited about with Aug is that he demanded the ball more," Graves noted. "Last night, we had two problems after we watched the game on film. Our guards didn't really look for him as much, but that was only half of the problem. The other half is that Aug didn't demand the ball. He just stood and allowed himself to be taken out of the game for a certain amount of possessions. Today, he didn't do that. He called for the ball, he posted hard, he was very aggressive and we as a coaching staff, in particular me, made it an emphasis to go Aug. I told our guards you want to throw to him, Aug you have to demand the ball. He did a great job responding tonight, and his free throws were terrific."

South Alabama led by as many as 12 points in the first half and by eight at the half, but Wright State opened the second half with six straight points helped by back-to-back Jag turnovers.

Freshman Ken Williams (Manvel, Texas) answered with a 3-pointer on the next possession, something the Jags would do repeatedly throughout the second half. Wright State made it a one-possession game four times in the first 10 minutes after halftime, but South Alabama answered each time with a score.

The Raiders cut the deficit to one—the closest Wright State had been since midway through the first half—on a three-point play from A.J. Pacher with 7:07 left in the contest, but Williams hit another triple, and after a WSU layup, Rubit scored four straight points, the last on a fast-break dunk, for a six-point advantage.

Momentum swung back and forth in the final minutes, with each team trading mini-runs threatening to either take the lead or run away with the game. After the Raiders closed to two points again with just under five minutes left, the Jaguars scored five straight, only to see Wright State record five on one possession after a 3-pointer and a foul away from the ball.

Rubit hit two at the free throw line with 1:16 left for a 69-65 lead and Cole Darling answered on the other end with a layup to cut the margin in half at the 1:05 mark.

The Jaguars committed a turnover on their next trip down the floor but forced a stop and added two points at the free throw line with 23.4 seconds remaining to double the lead. Wright State came up empty its next trip down the floor as well, allowing South Alabama to pad its advantage at the stripe again with 14.1 seconds on the clock.

A Wright State 3-pointer made it a three-point contest in the final seconds, but a South Alabama free throw put the game out of reach.

"None of us likes losing, but we're closer and tying a team and getting a lead against a team in their league is just like winning against one of the upper-echelon Horizon League teams on the road," Wright State head coach Billy Donlon said. "We lost the game in the first half. But I thought our guys really rallied and did a good job of making some stops."

"I told them, we have to get out of the mindset of we're up 10 with five minutes to go, we're down two with three minutes to go; that doesn't matter," Graves said. "What matters is the current possession at hand, the best you can do on that possession, the best at your job, whatever it is, screen, cut, pass, trail at screen or block out. You take care of that possession and then you move on to the next possession. The score is irrelevant. When you're up 10 and trying to protect the lead and play safe and cautious. We don't need to do that. We need to keep attacking and do our job within our system and our guys really did a good job of that today."

Williams and sophomore Barrington Stevens III (Allen, Texas) scored a season-high 13 points each for the Jaguars.

Wright State had three in double-figure scoring: Pacher (18), Darling (11) and Miles Dixon (11).

South Alabama closes out the CBE Classic Sunday against Houston Baptist at 2 p.m.

NOTES: After committing 15 turnovers in each of its first four games, South Alabama had a season-high 17 today… Rubit had his first 20-point, 10-rebound performance since Feb. 14 vs. Louisiana-Lafayette… Rubit moved into a tie for third in school history with Demetrice Williams with 602 free throw attempts… USA led at the half for the fifth consecutive game and is outscoring their opponents by over 10 points in the first half… The Jaguars shot 66.7 percent from the floor in the first half, the highest in a game this season… South Alabama converted 10 times from outside the 3-point arc in only 20 attempts; it is the second time this year the team has hit double-digit 3-pointers… Stevens and freshman Aakim Saintil (Roselle, N.J.) combined for 10 assists and just two turnovers… Saintil and Stevens had five helpers each, a new personal best for both.

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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