NEW ORLEANS — South Alabama’s men’s basketball season ended Wednesday night with an 84-73 loss to Tulane in the first round of the CollegeInsider.com Tournament, despite 31 points from Augustine Rubit.
Tulane closed the game with a 9-0 run over the final five minutes. The Jaguars finished the season 17-13, while the Green Wave improved to 20-14 and advanced in the tournament.
Free Throw Line the Difference
Tulane made 27 of 37 free throw attempts, a key factor in the outcome.
South Alabama trailed for the final 38:55 of the game. Barrington Stevens III pulled the Jaguars within two points with 12:37 remaining, the closest they would get. They were unable to get within four the rest of the way.
Rubit Leads All Scorers
Rubit, a junior, scored 31 points, 25 of them after halftime, including 15 consecutive South Alabama points late in the game. He shot 12-of-18 from the field and 7-of-8 from the free throw line.
Sophomore Mychal Ammons added 11 points, and Javier Carter finished with nine points and a team-high 10 rebounds. Freddie Goldstein scored four points in the final game of his South Alabama career, his first game back from a broken collarbone.
For Tulane, Josh Davis recorded his 19th double-double of the season with 26 points and 12 rebounds. Kendall Timmons and Ricky Tarrant each scored 13.
Price Praises Effort
“I thought our guys fought extremely hard in some tough situations,” interim head coach Jeff Price said. “It was hard to get a flow of the game. Because of the free throws, you couldn’t get a rhythm or a flow going. We got in to foul trouble, particularly with Aug in the first half. I thought our guys were resilient like they always have been, it just caught up with us in the end.”
Price said Rubit produced his numbers against constant extra defensive attention. “It was another unbelievable effort by him,” Price said. “Again, those numbers came with him being double and triple teamed. He did a nice job kicking it out and just played extremely well.”
“I’m proud of our guys,” Price said. “They’ve been tremendous all year. They like each other, they play hard and they play together. As a coach, that’s all you can ask for.”
Coaching Search Next
With the season complete, South Alabama turns its attention to its search for a permanent men’s basketball head coach. Price is a candidate for the position.
The Jaguars compete in the Sun Belt Conference and play home games at the Mitchell Center in Mobile.
