University of Southern Mississippi Athletics
Eagles Lose 85-61 At Arkansas State
12/1/2001 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Eagles Lose 85-61 At Arkansas State
Jonesboro, Ark. - Southern Miss had few answers for a hot-shooting Arkansas State team here Saturday night as the Indians piled up a 46-29 halftime lead and rolled to a lopsided 85-61 victory over the Golden Eagles. ASU improved to 6-1 while Southern Miss dropped to 2-3.
Head Coach James Green had both praise for the winners and concern for the losers. "Arkansas State is a good team," he said. "They have size inside and guards who are quick and who can score. That's a good combination at any level. On the other hand, we played really 'soft' tonight. It's tough enough to win at home, but it's really hard to go on the road and win when you don't do the things you have to do.
"I think our players know what we have to do be successful. Some of that involves leadership. We had that leadership last season. We've looked for someone to step up and assume that role this season. I don't think we've found anyone yet to fill that role."
Arkansas State, coming off a Thursday night loss at Mississippi Valley State, scored the first basket of the game, and never trailed. Southern Miss, on the other hand, did not score its first point until the 15:41 mark in the first half and didn't score a basket until the Clement Carter hit a three-pointer with 13:48 left in the initial period. While the Eagles managed to cut their deficit to five points (18-13), with 11:08 left, the Indians pushed that margin back to 17 points (46-29) at the half, and Southern Miss could get no closer than 10 in the second half.
That came on an Elvin Mims layup at the 17:20 mark, cutting ASU's lead to 46-36. Arkansas State then removed any lingering doubts about the outcome with a quick 14-to-2 run to put the game out of reach.
The winners put four players in double figures with guard Nick Rivers leading the way with 24. Mims was the lone Golden Eagle in double figures with 24 points to go with six rebounds. Southern Miss shot a poor .327 (18-55) from the floor while Arkansas State hit 29-of-58 (.500). The Eagles did win the rebounding battle by a 38-31 margin.
Southern Miss next will play at South Alabama Dec. 5, and then plays three home games leading up to Christmas, Morris Brown (Dec. 15), Millsaps (Dec. 18) and Western Kentucky (Dec. 22).