MOBILE, Ala. — The South Alabama Middle Tennessee game came down to the final minutes at the Mitchell Center, where the Blue Raiders held off a late Jaguar rally for a 60-56 victory. Middle Tennessee held South Alabama to 37 percent shooting and kept the Jaguars off the scoreboard over the final 1:41.
South Alabama fell to 7-7 overall and 4-2 in the Sun Belt Conference. Middle Tennessee improved to 12-4 and 4-1, moving into first place in the Sun Belt’s East Division.
Blue Raiders Seize Control Around Halftime
South Alabama led 27-23 with 1:22 left in the first half, but Middle Tennessee closed the half on a 6-1 run to take a 29-28 lead into the break. The Blue Raiders opened the second half with an 11-2 run, including nine straight points over a span of 3:36, to go ahead 40-30. In all, Middle Tennessee outscored the Jaguars 17-3 across the end of the first half and the start of the second.
“That was the key to the whole game,” interim head coach Jeff Price said of the start of the second half. “We didn’t play the last minute of the first half well either. We were up by maybe three and then we had a turnover and that last half court turnover and kind of broke our momentum a little bit. We went in down one. Instead we should have been up.”
Middle Tennessee later used an 8-0 run to build a 15-point lead. South Alabama went nearly five minutes without a field goal, missing five layups during that span.
“We just missed so many easy shots around the basket for a stretch there that would normally go in,” Price said. “For about four minutes it was like Arkansas State when layups wouldn’t go in by very good players. I mean Aug and Mike were missing them.”
Jaguars Rally Late
Trailing by 11 with 3:57 remaining, South Alabama began its comeback. Javier Carter scored on a tip-in and blocked a shot at the other end, Augustine Rubit made two free throws and Freddie Goldstein hit a 3-pointer to cut the deficit to 58-54.
After a defensive stop, Antoine Allen drove nearly the length of the floor for a layup with 1:41 remaining to make it a two-point game. South Alabama did not score again. Rubit missed a layup with 56 seconds left, and Middle Tennessee made two free throws for the final margin. Mychal Ammons missed a 3-point attempt, and Allen’s last-second shot was blocked.
“When you play a team that good, a unanimous pick to win your league, you have to play 40 minutes and we got 35,” Price said. “You can’t compound mistakes with mistakes. I thought we made a couple of mistakes and got our head down and missed a couple of layups when we didn’t need to. We got down and we could have laid down and quit but we didn’t. We fought and we had our chances.”
Davis Credits South Alabama
Middle Tennessee head coach Kermit Davis praised the Jaguars after the game. “I’m so impressed with how South Alabama has competed. It’s shown up on all the tapes,” Davis said. “It looked like we’d built a good lead, but, against an experienced team, I have to give them credit. They were physical and made a bunch of plays. We were lucky to hang on there at the end.”
Box Score Notes
Ammons led all scorers with 15 points off the bench and added eight rebounds. Rubit extended his streak of double-doubles to six games with 10 points and a game-high 14 rebounds. Goldstein scored 12 points with a team-high four assists, and Carter added 10 points and seven rebounds.
Bruce Massey led Middle Tennessee with 12 points, and Shawn Jones added 11.
South Alabama’s Xavier Roberson remains under an indefinite suspension for violating unspecified team and athletic department rules.
Up Next
The Jaguars travel to Lafayette, La., to face Louisiana-Lafayette on Thursday, with tipoff set for 7 p.m.
