ATLANTA — South Alabama went more than nine minutes without a field goal late in the second half Monday night, and Tennessee State pulled away for a 68-57 victory in the Coaches vs. Cancer Classic at the Georgia State Sports Arena.
The loss was the first of the season for South Alabama, which fell to 2-1. Tennessee State earned its first win and improved to 1-3.
Slow Start
Tennessee State scored within three seconds of winning the opening tip and quickly built a 13-2 lead. South Alabama missed its first three shots and committed three turnovers before making its first field goal. The Tigers led 36-24 at halftime.
“It was an absolute, total let-down in the first half,” South Alabama head coach Ronnie Arrow said. “I hate to say it, but we played selfishly. As good as we have been playing, we took too many bad shots. I don’t even have to look at the stats to see we took bad shots. We didn’t work the ball around.”
Rubit Leads Second-Half Rally
The Jaguars opened the second half with nine straight points to pull within 36-33. Augustine Rubit scored eight of the nine points in less than three minutes.
“We played with energy,” Arrow said of the rally. “We gave ourselves a chance — we made the extra pass and got layups.”
South Alabama got no closer than three. Xavier Roberson’s jumper with 15:07 remaining made it 38-35, but Tennessee State answered with the next four points. After the teams traded baskets, a 7-0 Tigers run stretched the lead to 51-39.
Nine-Minute Drought
A Rubit layup at the 10:24 mark cut the deficit to 51-43, but South Alabama did not make another field goal for more than nine minutes. During that span the Jaguars missed six straight shots, committed three turnovers and went 4-of-9 from the free-throw line, as Tennessee State used a 17-4 run to build a 68-47 lead.
“We didn’t run our offense,” Arrow said. “We couldn’t run our offense because we were shooting the ball. We had horrible decision making with the ball.”
Arrow also pointed to rebounding. South Alabama finished with seven offensive rebounds. “They kicked our tail on the boards,” he said. “We have to do something about that. This team should be a very good rebounding team.”
Individual Leaders
Rubit led all scorers with 21 points, 19 of them after halftime. He shot 7-of-10 from the field and 7-of-7 from the free-throw line.
“We weren’t getting him the ball (in the first half) and he wasn’t moving around much to get the ball,” Arrow said. “He started out slow. In the second half he got some more movement.”
Mychal Ammons was the only other Jaguar in double figures with 11 points and led South Alabama with seven rebounds.
Up Next
South Alabama faces Monmouth on Tuesday at 3 p.m. Central in its next Coaches vs. Cancer Classic game. The game will be broadcast on 105.5 FM WSNP.
