MOBILE, Ala. — South Alabama erased most of a 17-point first-half deficit but could not complete the comeback Tuesday night, falling 58-52 to New Mexico State at the Mitchell Center.
The Jaguars dropped to 4-4 overall and remain 2-0 in Sun Belt Conference play. New Mexico State improved to 5-4.
South Alabama pulled within two points with about two minutes remaining, but missed free throws and two late turnovers kept the Jaguars from getting over the top.
“We had so many chances to win that ball game, but we just couldn’t get over the hump,” head coach Ronnie Arrow said. “It seemed like every time we got it to one point or three points we made a horrible decision on shot selection or turned the ball over.”
Cold Start
South Alabama’s only lead of the night came at 4-2. New Mexico State then went on a 21-2 run over nearly 10 minutes. After making their first field goal attempt, the Jaguars missed 16 of their next 18 shots, including nine in a row.
“We shot 31 percent,” Arrow said. “I thought our shot selection was pretty bad.”
Mychal Ammons described some of the team’s shot choices as “crazy” in his postgame comments.
The Jaguars answered with eight straight points, capped by a Freddie Goldstein 3-pointer, and closed the half on a 19-8 run to trail 31-25 at the break.
Second-Half Push
Ammons hit a 3-pointer early in the second half to cut the deficit to two, but New Mexico State responded with a 9-2 run to lead 42-33 with 11:10 remaining.
Trailing 53-46 with 4:32 left, South Alabama got a tip-in from Javier Carter and a 3-pointer from Xavier Roberson around two Aggie free throws to make it 54-51. Missed free throws kept the Jaguars from getting closer. New Mexico State made one of two at the line, and Ammons missed the front end of a one-and-one with 1:17 left.
South Alabama still trailed only 55-52 with 33.7 seconds remaining, but a backdoor pass was deflected and stolen, and the Jaguars were forced to foul.
“We just right there at the end drew up a play,” Arrow said. “Mychal ran it and was wide open and we threw the ball away. That would have cut it to one point. We turn the ball over, they go down and instead of being down one they make the free throws and we’re down five. I’m happy that our guys came back but I’m disappointed in crucial situations we didn’t do what we could to win the game.”
Free Throws Prove Costly
South Alabama made 9 of 17 free throws.
“Tonight if we made our free throws we probably would have won the game,” Arrow said. “(We were) nine for 17. We were leading the conference in free throw shooting. So we just kept shooting ourselves in the foot. You only get so many times in a game. And it’s just sad because we still had an opportunity to win the game.”
Leading Scorers
Ammons led South Alabama with 16 points and eight rebounds. Augustine Rubit scored eight points with 10 rebounds, and Carter added eight points and six rebounds. Roberson scored seven points, and freshman Barrington Stevens had six.
Up Next
South Alabama plays another non-conference game on the road at UAB. Tipoff at Bartow Arena in Birmingham is set for 7 p.m.
Pregame Outlook
South Alabama entered the game off a 2-0 start in Sun Belt play, with both conference wins coming on the road. The matchup with New Mexico State, a former Sun Belt rival, was only the Jaguars’ second home game in their first seven.
“That’s what it’s all about – winning conference games,” Arrow said before the game. “Non-conference games are a lead-up to the conference. Not only are we 2-0, but we’re 2-0 on the road, so that’s even better.”
The Jaguars made 20 3-pointers over their two conference wins, eight of them by junior Xavier Roberson, who hit a career-high five at FAU. New Mexico State came in leading the WAC in 3-point defense (.272) and ranked second in the league in scoring defense at 60.5 points per game. The Aggies were 4-4 and had won three of their previous four games, including a 68-60 win over previously unbeaten Southern Miss, with the lone loss in that stretch coming 55-54 to UTEP.
Arrow pointed to the Aggies’ size and rebounding, noting they had been out-rebounding opponents by about 11 per game. New Mexico State listed five players at 6-foot-8 or taller, including a 7-foot-5 freshman center, Bhullar, averaging 6.1 points in 14.6 minutes per game.
“We’re going to have to box them out and we can’t give up second shots,” Arrow said. “When they’re playing at their best, their bigs are getting buckets right around the hole and we can’t let that happen.”
