03/16/06–
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
JAGUARS PUT UP VALIANT EFFORT, BUT BOW OUT
OF NCAA TOURNAMENT WITH 76-50 LOSS TO FLORIDA
Box
Score
JACKSONVILLE,
Fla. - NO. 14-seed South Alabama put up a valiant fight
in the first round of the NCAA Tournament on Thursday, but fell
to 3rd seed Florida, 76-50. The Jaguars finish with one of the best
records in school history at 24-7, while Florida improves to 28-6.
It was the Jaguars' first NCAA Tournament appearance since 1998.
Both teams came
out of the gates very cold as neither team scored through the first
3:24 of the game. Florida's Lee Humphrey scored the first bucket
of the game at the 16:36 mark. USA came right back with a bucket
by senior Chey Christie seconds later. Florida extended the lead
to 17-10 through the first 11:04, but an 8-2 run by the Jaguars
cut the deficit to one with 5:49 left.
USA used back-to-back
treys by junior Leandro Buboltz and a jumper by sophomore Demetric
Bennett to close the deficit.
Right as the
momentum was about to change to South Alabama, the Gators had the
answer and went on a 10-0 run to build a 29-18 lead with 2:58 left.
USA kept its poise and didn't panic as it battled back cutting the
deficit to six to end the half, scoring the last five points.
The halftime
statistics were pretty even as the Jaguars finished 9-of-27 from
the floor and 5-of-13 from beyond the arc and 2-of-4 from the line.
The six point difference in the half was Florida had three more
made field goals, going 12-of-30. The Gators were 5-of-15 from beyond
the arc and were 2-of-4 from the line.
Buboltz led
all-scorers with 11 points at intermission. USA held a 20-19 edge
in rebounds.
The Jaguars
struggled out of the gates in the second half, too. The teams exchanged
3's right as the half began, but USA went scoreless for the next
3:23 until senior Mario Jointer hit a trey to cut the Florida lead
back to seven with 15:39 left. Florida scored the next 14 of 20
points to go up 48-34 with 11:44 to play.
The Jaguars
got as close as 12 points on a jumper by senior Michael Phillips
with 9:11 to play, but the Gators proceeded to outscore the Jags
24-10 the rest of the way for a 76-50 win.
The Jaguars
were 19-of-55 from the field for the game for 34.5 percent and were
9-of-20 from beyond the arc and were a season-low 3-of-6 from the
line. Florida was 29-of-59 from the field and 10-of-25 from beyond
the arc. The Gators were 8-of-10 from the line.
Buboltz had
a team-high 14 points on 5-of-7 from the field, including 4-of-5
from the 3-point stripe. Jointer had 10 points in his final game
as a Jaguar. Florida had four players in double-figures with a game-high
20 from Lee Humphrey who had a career-high six made 3-pointers and
was 7-of-8 from the floor.
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