Middle Tennessee 68, South Alabama 52

LaRon Dendy got his second straight double-double with 21 points and 11 rebounds as Middle Tennessee defeated South Alabama 68-52 in a Sun Belt Conference game on Saturday. Dendy made 10 of 16 field goals and the Blue Raiders shot 45.9 percent (28 of 61), which is below their nation-leading average of 51.7 percent from the field. Markos Knight added 17 points and Raymond Cintron added 11 for the Blue Raiders (13-2, 2-0), who won their fifth straight game. The Blue Raiders used a 29-8 run in the final 12:35 of the first half to break open the game and lead 46-20 at the break. A 3-pointer by James Gallman gave the Blue Raiders their biggest lead of the game at 54-22 with 16:22 remaining. Augustine Rubit had 13 points and 13 rebounds for South Alabama (8-4, 0-1), which had a four-game winning streak snapped.