Bad habits have a way of cropping up over and over again, especially in the case of a young team that’s still trying to find its footing.

Auburn struggled to a 37.3-percent shooting night and committed 22 turnovers in a 69-55 loss to back-to-back Atlantic Sun champion Jacksonville on Saturday night in front of 4,888 fans.

The Tigers (1-4) endured a stretch of 8:17 without a field goal in the first half, smack in the middle of a 21-3 run by Jacksonville (4-1) that turned a 6-point deficit into a 12-point lead.

In the second half, after an Earnest Ross 3-pointer cut the Dolphins’ lead to 50-46, the Tigers took another 6:11 before they scored again, letting Jacksonville stretch its lead back out to 11.

“I’ve said that from Day 1. We’re going to be an offensively challenged team,” Auburn coach Tony Barbee said. “We’re not strong enough as an offensive team to have guys disappear and not be productive.”

Auburn was able to shave Jacksonville’s first-half lead back down to 4 by the break, with 8 points from Ross in the final 3:08 of the half.

Ross recorded his first career double-double on the night, finishing with 18 points and 11 rebounds.

The Dolphins pushed their lead back out to 9 in the second half before Auburn cut it to 4, then swelled the lead back to 11 before the Tigers put together a mini-run to close within 5 with 3:40 to play.

Jacksonville went on a 10-1 run to finish the game from there, with the Tigers going 0-for-4 and committing three turnovers in that stretch.

“I think they outplayed us,” Ross said. “We didn’t have the heart to finish out the game and come out with the win.”

The Dolphins turned Auburn’s 22 turnovers into 33 points.

Ten of those turnovers came during the Tigers’ prolonged droughts in the first and second halves.

“The press that they ran caused some turnovers, and the teams that we will play are going to press us a lot,” Ross said. “So we are going to have to get used to it and learn how to handle it.”

In the Tigers’ four losses this season, they have committed an average of 19 turnovers and shot 38.2 percent.

“We just have a small margin of error,” Barbee said. “So we’ve got to win the battle of the little things. We’ve got to win the battle of the little things because we’re not good enough to not do those small things.”

Rob Chubb finished with 10 points and seven rebounds off the bench.

Keith McDougald paced Jacksonville with 15 points, Travis Cohn scored 13, and Russell Powell and Ayron Hardy had 11.

Auburn hosts Division-II Georgia Southwestern at 7 p.m. Tuesday before taking on Arkansas-Pine Bluff next Sunday at 2 p.m., a game rescheduled due to Auburn’s football team playing in the SEC championship game Saturday.

| 737-2568