University of Southern Mississippi Athletics
Eagles Stop Murray State, 56-54, On Late Basket
1/4/2003 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Eagles Stop Murray State, 56-54, On Late Basket
HATTIESBURG, Miss. -- Sophomore guard James Pattman hit a short runner in the lane with 0.9 seconds remaining to lift Southern Mississippi to a 56-54 win over Murray State here Saturday.
Redshirt freshman Jasper Johnson had a career-best 18 points to lead the Golden Eagles, while Kevin Paschel had a game-high 22 points for Murray State. Guard Dante Stiggers added 10 points for Southern Miss. With the win, the Golden Eagles improved to 7-4 overall, while Murray State fell to 7-4.
?We played a lot better today,? Southern Miss Head Coach James Green said. ?Our attitude won the game for us. We fought hard throughout the game. We may have slipped some at times in the second half, but we never quit. We did a good job in our effort in this game.?
Down by four with 3:04 remaining in the game, the Racers battled back to tie the game, 48-48, at the 2:13 mark.
Despite dueling through two more ties in the remaining minutes, Southern Miss never fell behind, taking the lead for good on Pattman?s game-winner.
In the final minute of the game, another freshman, Jason Forte, broke one of those ties as he connected on a 3-point basket with 49 seconds remaining to give Southern Miss a three-point cushion, 53-50. The shot was just the second 3-pointer that the Golden Eagles made in the game, as they finished 2-of-19 from behind the line.
Murray State chipped away at the lead again and tied the game once more as Paschel made a fast break lay-up to with 13.1 seconds left. Along with Johnson and Stiggers double-digit scoring games for the Golden Eagles, Charles Gaines had a game-high 11 rebounds.
The Racers? James Singleton added nine points and tied with Antione Whelchel with a team-high eight rebounds.
Holding a one-point lead at the 13:40 mark in the first half, the Golden Eagles used a 14-2 run over the next eight minutes to take a 23-10 advantage, and an eventual 27-19 lead at the break.
Murray State won the shooting battle as the Racers finished at and even 40 percent from the floor, compared to the Eagles' .352. Southern Miss won the rebounding battle, 40-34.
Southern Miss now is 6-1 at home this season, and this was the final non-conference game of the season, as the Golden Eagles open a 16-game C-USA schedule with a Wednesday night game against TCU. Memphis visits Green Coliseum Jan. 11.
