MURFREESBORO, Tenn. — Middle Tennessee ended South Alabama’s four-game winning streak with an 85-50 victory Thursday night, a result that clinched the No. 1 seed in the Sun Belt Conference Tournament for the Blue Raiders. In the South Alabama basketball loss, the Jaguars shot 28.6 percent from the field.
Middle Tennessee improved to 24-4 overall and 16-1 in Sun Belt play. South Alabama fell to 15-10 and 12-5.
Early Hole
The Blue Raiders scored the game’s first 13 points before Trey Anderson put South Alabama on the board with 14:30 left in the first half. The Jaguars shot 26.1 percent in the opening half and committed 14 turnovers before the break, and they managed just one field goal over a 10-minute stretch.
Middle Tennessee later used a 12-2 run to go ahead 40-21 and led 41-26 at halftime after building a 19-point first-half advantage.
The Blue Raiders opened the margin further in the second half with a 23-6 run that included back-to-back 3-pointers and stretched the lead to 36 points.
Rubit Posts Double-Double
Augustine Rubit recorded his 15th double-double of the season with 13 points and a game-high 12 rebounds. Mychal Ammons added 13 points before fouling out, and Anderson scored a season-high 11 points off the bench. Middle Tennessee had five players score in double figures.
Price: ‘We Just Didn’t Play Well’
“We just didn’t play well,” interim head coach Jeff Price said. “You can’t come in and play a team like this, in this environment, and play poorly on both ends of the floor. You have to do one or the other and I thought we did not play well on either end. I’m more disappointed than anything in our defense.”
“We turned the ball over and our turnovers led to their easy baskets,” Price said. “When you come in here, you have to take care of the ball. We talked so much about throwing the first punch in this game, we know how well they do early in games, and we’re sitting there down 13-0. It’s just a big hole to climb out of here.”
“I didn’t think we stayed in front of the ball well, I didn’t think we were good in our transition defense and we didn’t guard the rim like we have been,” Price added. “That has not been a normal pattern of our team and we just have to go back to work. We have a big game on Saturday.”
Senior Night Next
South Alabama remains in second place in the Sun Belt, one game ahead of Arkansas State, with three regular-season games left to determine its tournament seeding. The Jaguars close the season against North Texas at home, at Western Kentucky and at Troy.
South Alabama hosts North Texas at 7:05 p.m. Saturday at the Mitchell Center in its final home game. Seniors Trey Anderson, Wendell Wright, Freddie Goldstein and Javier Carter will be honored before the game.
