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South Alabama 79, Florida International 68

South Alabama stretched an eight-point halftime lead to a 20-point bulge midway through the second half and rode that cushion to a 79-68 victory over Florida International in men's college basketball Saturday night.

With the win, the Jaguars made Ronnie Arrow the winningest coach in Sun Belt Conference history with 112 victories. He went into the game tied with UAB's Gene Bartow for the top spot. Arrow is 112-84 in 14 seasons at South Alabama.

The Jaguars (4-3) also came away with a sweep of their first two games in conference competition, having won their league opener two nights earlier over Florida Atlantic. FIU (2-3) fell to 1-1 in conference play.

After falling behind 68-48, the Panthers closed to within eight points at 74-66 with 1:19 left in the game on junior guard Malik Smith's three free throws.

But that was as close as the Panthers could get as the visiting Jaguars canned five of their six free throws down the stretch.

South Alabama sophomore guard Mychal Ammons led all scorers with 21 points, and his teammate, junior forward Augustine Rubit, added 19.

Junior forward Tymell Murphy had a double-double with 16 points and 10 rebounds to lead FIU before fouling out with 2:53 left.