It was a tough start to the 2012 exhibition schedule for the Western Mustangs men’s basketball team as they played host to the NCAA’s South Alabama Jaguars on Tuesday night at Alumni Hall. The Division I team rebounded from Monday’s overtime loss against the Windsor Lancers to defeat the Mustangs 68-47.
 
Mustangs head coach Brad Campbell commented after the game about his team’s performance so early in the 2012-13 season.
 
“After six practices our defence is probably ahead of where we expected it to be at this point,” said Campbell. “Offensively we’ve got a lot of work to do. Offensively we had lapses in running things, it’s early, but at the same time we just couldn’t make shots.”
 
An aggressive Jaguars defence held the Mustangs to 25.4 percent shooting from the field and created 20 turnovers. Mustang turnovers led directly to 20 of the Jaguars 68 points, something South Alabama head coach Ronnie Arrow considered a key factor in the victory.
 
“What we practice is good defence leads to good offence,” said Arrow. “I said to my guys I hope they understand that tonight, this team has good shooters, we are overall quicker and we used that tonight to take some good shooters out of their range.”
 
Leading the way offensively for the Jaguars was junior guard Xavier Roberson (Houston, Texas) with 15 points, while junior forward Augustine Rubit (Houston, Texas) was just behind with 11. London native and third year forward Nathan DiLoreto lead Western with 10 points.
 
Despite the loss, Campbell sees these early games as part of the development process for this year’s team.
 
“It gives us information and shows us where we are and gives us a preview of what we need to do and what we need to work on,” said Campbell. “Who exceeded our expectations, who hasn’t, where pieces are going to fit.”
 
Arrow echoed Campbell’s thoughts saying that the main benefit of these games are the time you have to work as a team.
 
“It gives you a jump start on all the other schools. We will find out where we’re at and are able to go from there.”
 
The Jaguars wrap up their Canadian tour Thursday night with a return match against Windsor, while the Mustangs next game isn’t until October 1 when they host Indiana’s Trine University. Game time for that contest is 7:00 p.m. at Alumni Hall.