BATON ROUGE, La. - Playing in its final tournament of the fall season, the University of South Alabama men's golf team had a pair of players finish in the top 15 in the individual results.

Jack Hiluta recorded a team-best 2-under-par 69 Tuesday - his lowest score of the year -at the par-71, 6,849-yard Country Club of Louisiana to move into a tie for 11th place at the inaugural David Toms Intercollegiate hosted by Louisiana State with a 54-hole total of 2-under-par 211.

He equaled the three-round total of Marc-Etienne Bussieres, who posted a 73 on the final day of the event.

"Jack had his best tournament of the fall," Jaguar head coach Ben Hannan said.  "Even with the tougher conditions we played in today - the scores for the field were much higher - that was one of his best rounds of the season.  And Marc played pretty well too to close out a good fall."

After opening the final round with a five on the par four 16th hole, Hiluta would not post a bogey the rest of the day.  He birdied No. 18 to get back to even-par for the event, going below par for the first time this week with a two on the par three third hole.  Hiluta added a birdie on No. 11 as well.

For the week, he tied for the lead among the 75 players competing by going 3-under-par on par three holes, while he was tied for 15th with 11 total birdies.

Bussieres, who collected 12 birdies in the tournament and was among the leaders in par four scoring, birdied two of his final seven holes in the last round to record his third sub-par finish in a row.  His 64 in Monday's second round broke the tournament scoring record for 18 holes, first set in 2001 and match two years later, by one stroke.

In four tournaments this fall, he finished no lower than 21st place.

Chris Piumelli came in 62nd place after his final-round 75  - he equaled Hiluta with a team-best three birdies today - left him with a 225 two-day total, while Garth Boyd finished 70th after shooting a 231 over the 54 holes of the tournament.  Christian Blanchet, whose 77 in the last round was his best score of the event, tied for 72nd three shots behind Boyd.

In the team standings, USA moved up a spot past No. 27 Northwestern - the highest-ranked school in the 14-team field according to the Golfweek/Sagarin ratings - to finish 12th with a three-round score of 877.  No. 37 LSU shot an 8-under-par 844, winning the tournament title by one shot over No. 28 North Florida and 35th-ranked Kent State.  Jade Scott of Rice used a 65 on the final day to claim medalist honors, finishing one stroke ahead of LSU's John Peterson - the leader at the end of the second round - with a 54-hole score of 9-under-par 204.

"As a team, we're disappointed we didn't play better," Hannan stated.  "Ideally we would've liked to take advantage of the opportunity in a field with so many ranked teams, but this experience in our toughest event of the fall will benefit us in the spring."

This was the last of four tournaments in five weeks this fall for the Jags.  USA will open the spring campaign by playing host to the Mobile Bay Intercollegiate Feb. 21-23 at the Magnolia Grove Crossings Golf Course.

"We had some positive things happen for us this fall, winning the tournament in Memphis will really help us down the road," observed Hannan.  "There are definitely positives that we can take into our offseason workouts that will begin next week."

For more information about South Alabama athletics, check back with www.usajaguars.com.  Season tickets for all Jaguar athletic events can be purchased by calling (251) 461-1USA (1872).

-USA-

David Toms Intercollegiate
Colonial Country Club of Louisiana, Baton Rouge, La.
Par 71, 6,849 yards

Team Scores: 1) Louisiana State 285-273-286-844 (-8); T2) North Florida 289-276-280-845; T2) Kent State 283-278-284-845; 4) Mississippi 286-280-283-849; T5) Rice 285-287-279-851; T5) Southeastern Louisiana 289-275-287-815; 7) Pepperdine 285-281-288-854;  8) Mississippi State 288-279-292-859; 9) Auburn 291-291-282-864; 10) Louisiana Tech 290-283-293-866; 11) UAB 286-289-297-872; 12) South Alabama 295-288-294-877; 13) Northwestern 279-292-307-878; 14) Louisiana-Lafayette 299-287-306-892.

Individual Leaders: 1) Jade Scott, Rice 67-72-65-204 (-9); 2) John Peterson, LSU 66-66-73-205; 3) John Hahn, KSU 70-68-68-206; 4) Andrew Loupe, LSU 73-68-66-207; 5) Mackenzie Hughes, KSU 68-66-74-208; T6) Joel Thelan, LTU 70-67-72-209;  T6) Jonathan Randolph, UM 67-73-69-209; T8) Alvaro Arizabaleta, SLU 72-66-72-210; T8) Jonathan Bale, LTU 73-68-69-210; T8) Kevin Phelan, UNF 70-70-70-210.

South Alabama Scores: T11) Marc-Etienne Bussieres 74-64-73-211 (-2); T11) Jack Hiluta 72-70-69-211; 62) Chris Piumelli 74-76-75-225; 70) Garth Boyd 75-78-78-231; T72) Christian Blanchet 78-79-77-234.