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MOBILE, Ala. – University of South Alabama senior Augustine Rubit (Houston, Texas) posted his school-record 53rd double-double of his career with 14 points and 11 rebounds to help the Jaguars to a 63-53 win vs. Texas State Thursday night at the Mitchell Center.

USA hits the double-digit win plateau at 10-20 and is 4-13 in Sun Belt Conference play. Texas State falls to 8-22 and 4-13.

The Jags never trailed, led by as many as 14 in the first half and withstood a Bobcat rally in the second half before holding on in the end.

"I'm really proud of the team," USA head coach Matthew Graves said. "The guys did a tremendous job of coming out and playing hard out of the gate. We talked about this week—everybody is aware that we weren't playing for the opportunity to go to the conference tournament, which is certainly disappointing, and the players could have easily given up and not played as hard and ridden off into the sunset, but they hung tough and I was really encouraged, especially in the first half, by how hard the guys were playing. They were really sharing the basketball.

"In the second half we started off very flat and reverted back into some bad habits that have crept in and we were able to regroup in time and force a lot of turnovers. This might have been our season high in turnovers that we forced and I thought overall defensively, except for a few times in the post, this was one of our better efforts on the year."

Rubit recorded team-highs of 14 points, 11 rebounds, four steals, two blocks and two assists. He breaks a tie with Terry Catledge for the most double-doubles in school history and gets his 11th of the season. The four steals are a new career best.

"What hasn't been said about him? He's going to leave an incredible legacy here," Graves said. "Statistically his accolades may not ever be touched but, I'm really, really proud of how he came out and played tonight. Hopefully we will get a lot of fans out here (Saturday) and understand that it's a pretty special thing to see a player come here and play for four years and have the statistical accolades. Hopefully there will be a big crowd for him on senior night."

The Jaguars used a stifling defense to hold the Bobcats to just 10 points through the first 16-plus minutes of the contest. Texas State made just five of its first 22 field goal attempts and shot 27.6 percent in the first half.

On the other end of the floor, South Alabama wasn't shooting that much better—33.3 percent in the first half—but Rubit and senior Antoine Allen (Baltimore, Md.) accounted for 17 of the team's 31 first-half points to build up a big lead.

Texas State scored the first six points of the second half to get within striking distance, but after a Joel Wright jumper pulled the Bobcats to six points, an 8-1 Jaguar run kicked the lead back up to 13 midway through the second half.

USA junior Dionte Ferguson (Prattville, Ala.) hit a layup for another 13-point lead, but Texas State recorded the next eight points and 12 of the next 15 to get to 52-48 with just over five minutes remaining in the contest.

"They were throwing it in the post and being very aggressive around the rim," Graves said. "Our post players settled behind and we weren't fighting around or as active as we needed to be, and our help side wasn't coming over early and often enough. I think they scored 15 points in the first four minutes and we held them to 18 in the first half, so we had to refocus and the rest of the way we did a pretty consistent job of keeping them out of the paint and part of that was Georgi (Boyanov) and how active he was."

The Jags scored the next four points on buckets from Allen and freshman Ken Williams (Manvel, Texas) to go back up eight. The Bobcats closed to five twice in the final 2 ½ minutes, but a 3-pointer from Williams at the 1:20 mark put the game away.

"South Alabama played well tonight, particularly in the first half," Texas State head coach Danny Kaspar said. "I think the problem with our team is a bit of us not coming to play, which I totally don't understand. This was an ugly defeat for us and one in which I'm very frustrated with my team."

Allen was the only other Jag in double-digit scoring with 13. He also had two assists and two steals.

Wright paced the Bobcats with a game-high 21 points, with 17 coming in the second half on 6 of 9 shooting. He added nine rebounds, three assists and three blocks.

The Jaguars wrap up the 2013-14 season at home Saturday against Texas-Arlington at 7:05 p.m.

NOTES: The 53 points allowed are the fewest given up one game after allowing over 100 points in school history… Texas State's 18 first-half points are the second-fewest allowed by South Alabama this season (14 at WKU)… All nine Jaguars that saw game action scored tonight… Rubit posted the 100th double-digit scoring game of his career, second-most at USA, and already holds the school mark with 64 double-digit rebound performances… He moved into fifth in school history with 666 career field goals… Rubit blocked two shots, extending his streak of multiple-block games to six… Texas State's Reid Koenen, who scored 26 points on seven 3-pointers in the first meeting in San Marcos, was held to just four tonight and went 0-for-2 from behind the arc… The Bobcats' 19 turnovers are the second-most forced by the Jaguars this season (22 vs. William Carey)… Texas State shot 58.3 percent from the floor in the second half after converting just 27.6 percent in the first… Freshman Aakim Saintil (Roselle, N.J.) had two assists and no turnovers, giving him 13 assists with just one turnover in his last five games; he added eight points tonight, his most since putting up 12 at Western Kentucky on Feb. 15... South Alabama won for just the second time this season—and first in league play—when having a lower shooting percentage than its opponent (2-16, 1-10)… The Jags also earned their first victory when being outrebounded (1-11, 1-8)… USA is 2-16 overall and 2-11 vs. Sun Belt schools when scoring 69 points or fewer.

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).

—USA—