University of Southern Mississippi Athletics
Eagles Lose Heartbreaker At Saint Louis, 56-55
1/14/2004 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
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Final Game Statistics
Eagles Lose Heartbreaker At Saint Louis, 56-55
ST. LOUIS, Mo. -- It was "oh so close" for the Golden Eagle, but Southern Miss fell a point short in the end and dropped a tough 56-55 loss to the Saint Louis Billikens in the Savvis Center here Tuesday night.
With the loss, the Eagles dropped to 8-6, 1-2 in C-USA play, while Saint Louis improved to 9-5, 2-1 in the league.
Head Coach James Green's team opened the game with a hot shooting hand and led by as many as 10 points twice in the early going, the final time at 14-4, with 15:30 remaining in the first half. Saint Louis chipped away at that lead, and finally pulled ahead with just under nine-minutes remaining and led 35-29 at halftime. Greg Johnson made five-of-six shots in the opening half and led both teams with 11 points. However, the Billikens had better balance, with three players with 10 points each.
The Golden Eagles regained the lead early in the second half and led by as many as three points on several occasions, the final time at 47-44, with 9:00 remaining in the game. Saint Louis then went on a 9-0 run to pull ahead 53-47, a deficit from which the Eagles would not recover. Southern Miss fought back, through, holding the Billikens without a field goal in the final 7:27 of the game, cutting the deficit to a points at 56-55 on a Jasper Johnson field goal with 40-seconds remaining, and then forced a shot clock violation with just over 5-seconds remaining to set the stage for one final shot at victory.
Southern Miss rushed the ball the length of the court, but saw David Haywood's open 3-point look from the left corner just miss the mark, at the buzzer.
Greg Johnson led the Eagles with 15 points and Jasper Johnson added 14. Southern Miss shot .478 (22-46) from the field, 6-of-14 (.429) from 3-point range and made 5-of-7 (.714) free throws. Reggie Bryant led all scorers with 20 points for the winners, who, themselves, shot .487, on 19-of-39 shooting. Southern Miss held the winners to just five field goals in the second half, on 5-of-18 (.278) shooting, but the Billikens also made 13-of-23 free throws, including 10-of-15 in the second half.
Following the Saint Louis game, the Eagles travel to Marquette (Jan. 16), return home for Cincinnati (Jan. 24), and then play three more on the road, at Tulane (Jan. 31), at Houston (Feb. 3, and at TCU (Feb. 7). Following that three-game trip, the Eagles will play five of their remaining eight regular season games in Green Coliseum, including games against Tulane and East Carolina to end the regular season.
