University of Southern Mississippi Athletics
Eagles Drop Third Straight, At Western Kentucky
12/19/2002 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Eagles Drop Third Straight, At Western Kentucky
Bowling Green, Ky. - Southern Miss saw its losing streak reach three games here tonight, after the Golden Eagles dropped a 64-54 decision to Western Kentucky. The Hilltoppers improved to 4-3 with the victory, while USM dropped to 5-3.
Southern Miss will entertain Arkansas-Little Rock Saturday afternoon at 4, and then will take a short holiday break before playing the final game of 2002, Dec. 30, at Auburn.
Western Kentucky led by as many as eight, 9-1, early in the first half, but the Golden Eagles fought back and led by as many as three, and by a 29-28 score at halftime. Southern Miss hit 14-of-31 (.452) and outrebounded the Hilltoppers 21-15 in that first half, but again had trouble with turnovers, committing 10.
The Golden Eagles jumped ahead by as many as five points, 37-32, at the 17:29 mark of the second half, but had shooting troubles that resulted in 8-of-24 (.333) numbers, along with another nine turnovers. Western Kentucky took advantage, and, following Southern Miss' final lead of the game, at 40-39 with 12:56 remaining, the Hilltoppers did not trail again, and built that lead to as many as 11 points late in the game.
USM did keep the game close much of the second, and were down by just three points, 52-49, at the 7:47 mark of the second half. However, Southern Miss scored just five points over that final 7:47, while the eventual winners were picking up 12 points. During that stretch, Greg Johnson and Dante Stiggers hit the Eagles only two baskets, and Charles Gaines added a late free throw.
Gaines led Southern Miss with 17 points, but 14 of those came in the first half. No other Golden Eagle was in double figures. Gaines also added eight rebounds and got help from Geoff Brown, who had a team- and game-high nine rebounds. Nate Williams led all scorers with 19 points and teammates Patrick Sparks and David Boyden had 15 and 12 points, respectively. The Hilltoppers made 24-of-51 baskets (.471), and committed 15 turnovers, to 19 for the losers.
The Golden Eagles also hit just 10-of-18 free throws and went 0-of-8 from three point range.