| Middle Tennessee extended its winning streak to six games with a 67-55 win at South Alabama Saturday night.
Senior forward JaCorey Williams led all scorers with 16 points and tied teammate Reggie Upshaw with a game-high seven rebounds. Upshaw added 13 points, six assists and three steals while Giddy Potts also logged 13 points to go along with five boards and four assists.
Middle (8-1) shot 50 percent from the floor on the night and went 8-of-20 from downtown while holding South Alabama (6-2) to just 23.5 percent from three.
Despite having early struggles at the free throw line, the Blue Raiders once again helped seal the game at the charity stripe. MT hit 6-of-6 free throw attempts in the second half, four of which were in the final 1:13 of the contest.
After allowing South Alabama to take an early lead on their home floor, Middle opened up a 24-2 run that included a 7:30 scoring drought for the Jaguars, putting the Raiders on top by a score of 26-9.
Just as at looked like MT had taken control of the contest, South Alabama began to get in a rhythm on offense and closed out the second half on a 15-5 run, sending the Blue Raiders into the locker room with their lead cut to seven at 31-24.
Middle shot 46.4 percent in the opening half and scored 12 points off of 12 USA turnovers while collecting seven first half steals.
The Jaguars closed the gap to four less than a minute into the second half before back-to-back triples from Edward Simpson and Giddy Potts extended the lead to double digits.
Simpson went 3-for-6 from beyond the arc for nine points on the night while Potts was 3-for-7.
The teams began to trade baskets back and forth until the 8:38 mark when South Alabama closed the gap to six at 50-44, but Middle quickly extended the lead back to 11 points.
The Jaguars came no closer than eight points for the remainder of the game as the pace slowed and the Blue Raiders sank their free throws down the stretch to keep the lead at a safe distance.
Middle Tennessee makes its first home appearance in over two weeks on Thursday when Vanderbilt comes to the Murphy Center for a 6:30 p.m. contest. |
