JONESBORO, Ark. — South Alabama rallied from a 16-point deficit but could not complete the comeback Thursday night, as Arkansas State made 30 of 43 free throws in a 74-62 victory that ended the Jaguars’ season-best three-game winning streak.
South Alabama fell to 11-9 overall and 8-4 in Sun Belt Conference play. Arkansas State improved to 13-8 and 7-5.
Standings
Despite the loss, South Alabama remained second in the Sun Belt’s East Division and is tied for second in the overall conference standings. The Jaguars trail East leader Middle Tennessee by three games and lead Florida International by two. In the West Division, Arkansas-Little Rock holds a one-game lead over Arkansas State.
Comeback Falls Short
Arkansas State built a 16-point lead around the midpoint of the first half before South Alabama answered with a 16-5 run to trail 35-29 at halftime.
The Jaguars trailed throughout the second half. They twice used runs of 6-0 and 7-0 to pull within two points, but the Red Wolves responded each time with runs of 7-0 and 8-0.
South Alabama did not grab its first offensive rebound until nearly 15 minutes into the game.
Rubit Perfect at the Line
Augustine Rubit led South Alabama with 18 points, making all 12 of his free-throw attempts, and added nine rebounds and two blocks. Javier Carter scored 11 points off the bench, 10 of them in the first half, to tie a season high, and also had three blocks and two steals.
Rakeem Dickerson scored all 18 of his points in the second half for Arkansas State, going 14 of 16 from the line. Trey Finn added 18 points and three steals and made 8 of 10 free throws.
- Final: Arkansas State 74, South Alabama 62
- Augustine Rubit: 18 points (12-of-12 FT), 9 rebounds, 2 blocks
- Javier Carter: 11 points, 3 blocks, 2 steals
- Arkansas State free throws: 30 of 43
Price: ‘Hard to Battle 43 Free Throws’
“It was an extremely physical game,” South Alabama interim head coach Jeff Price said. “It was hard-fought and intense on both ends. We put them on the line a lot. We got to the free throw line too but it’s hard to battle 43 free throws. We just couldn’t get a flow to the game because the flow stopped so much with the fouls. We were bending but we weren’t breaking. We kept fighting back but every time we had a chance to get over the hump we just couldn’t do it.”
“We just couldn’t make baskets when we needed to,” Price said. “We were getting stops and then all of the sudden we’d foul and they’d make free throws. We missed a couple of easy shots we should have made. It’s hard to play on the road in this type of environment against a good basketball team. We just have to keep plugging away.”
Up Next
South Alabama plays Arkansas-Little Rock on Saturday at 7 p.m. before returning home for a three-game homestand. The game will be broadcast on 105.5 WNSP and WNSP.com.
Update: Pregame Notes
South Alabama entered the game 11-8 overall, 8-3 in the Sun Belt and 5-3 on the road after a three-game home sweep of Louisiana-Monroe, Western Kentucky and Florida International. Arkansas State came in 12-8 and 6-5, with a 9-2 home record and a 63-38 win over Florida Atlantic the previous Saturday.
Augustine Rubit led the Jaguars in scoring and rebounding at 19.1 points and 10.9 rebounds per game, and Mychal Ammons averaged 10.9 points and 7.2 rebounds. South Alabama ranked 45th nationally at 4.8 blocks per game, with Javier Carter leading the team with 38 blocks. Freddie Goldstein missed his second straight game with a broken collarbone suffered against Western Kentucky.
Arkansas State’s Ed Townsel averaged a team-best 14.8 points per game entering the contest, and Brandon Peterson averaged 11.4 points and 9.6 rebounds with 23 blocks on the season.
