University of Southern Mississippi Athletics
Eagles Lose At Auburn, Drop To 6-4
12/31/2002 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Eagles Lose At Auburn, Drop To 6-4
AUBURN, Ala. - The Golden Eagles saw their shooting touch fall to a season low .298 en route to a one-sided 92-46 loss to the Auburn Tigers here Monday night as Southern Miss played its final game of 2002.
With the victory, Auburn improved to 10-2, while Southern Miss dropped to 6-4. The Eagles now have lost four of their last five games. Also, Auburn extended its series advantage over the Eagles to 12-1. The Tigers have won the last 10 games, and this was the largest margin of victory in the 13-game Auburn-Southern Miss series.
Southern Miss will start the '03 portion of the schedule with a Jan. 4 game against Murray State, before quickly getting into Conference USA action with a Wednesday night (Jan. 8) home game against TCU, the first of 16-straight league games for Head Coach James Green's team.
The Golden Eagles hit just 17-of-57 shots from the floor, made 7-of-18 free throws and committed 21 turnovers, while the homestanding Tigers turned in a .649 (37-57) shooting night that included making 20-of-28 (.714) field goals in the second half.
Marquis Daniels racked up 21 points, eight rebounds, five assists, and four steals to lead the Auburn Tigers, while Derrick Bird added 16 points and Marco Killingsworth finished with 14 points for Auburn, which extended its winning streak to four games. Greg Johnson scored 13 points for Southern Miss, and no other Golden Eagle was in double figures.
Auburn scored 10 of the game?s first 14 points and held a 39-25 lead at the break thanks to 58.6 percent shooting from the floor in the first half.
The Tigers opened the second stanza with a 17-3 run and cruised to the 46-point victory. Southern Miss was outscored 42-14 in the paint and 30-9 off turnovers in the contest.