University of Southern Mississippi Athletics
Eagles Lose Close One, To UAB
2/11/2004 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
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Final Game Statistics
Eagles Lose Close One, To UAB
HATTIESBURG, Miss. -- It took an errant Southern Miss pass and a break-away dunk by UAB forward Demario Eddins in the closing seconds to finally decide Wednesday night's Southern Miss-UAB game, a decision that left the Blazers with a 69-65 victory Conference USA victory at Reed Green Coliseum.
"We were real fortunate to deflect it," UAB Head coach Mike Anderson said. "It was a good win for us. The kids showed me something tonight, the way they bounced back after the Louisville loss (73-55 Saturday). They fought hard tonight."
UAB led by as many as seven in the second half, only to watch Southern Miss tie the game at 58 with 3:35 to play on two free throws by sophomore forward Jasper Johnson. But the Blazers converted seven of nine free throws in the game?s final three minutes, as they improved to 14-6 overall, 7-2 in Conference USA. Southern Miss fell to 11-9 on the season, 4-5 in Conference USA action.
"It was a tough loss," Southern Miss Head coach James Green said. "But we had great effort. If we had won, we could have reached a higher level. We can still reach that level, but this win would have made it a little easier." Green?s team entered Wednesday?s contest on a two-game road winning streak.
Southern Miss held UAB?s leading score, Mo Finley, to six points on 2-of-5 shooting. But the Blazer bench scored 21 points, which Anderson said was key to the victory. "This was a team win," he said. "But this victory is a tribute to our bench. We had guys step up, especially Tony Johnson (seven points, five rebounds)."
Gabe Kennedy led the Blazers with 16-points on 6-of-11 shooting, and Eddins finished with 15 for the winners. Southern Miss sophomore guard Jarekus Singleton scored a career and game high 21 points on 7-of-10 shooting. Southern Miss? leading scorer Charles Gaines added 20 points and eight rebounds.
The Blazers shot 47 percent for the game, including a 51.7 percent clip in the second half. The Golden Eagles shot 42 percent for the game, including a 46 percent mark in the second half.
Southern Miss used an 11-2 run in a span of six minutes to take a seven-point lead with 6:40 to play in the first half, on their way to a 30-27 first half lead over UAB. Gaines led Southern Miss with 12 first half points to lead all first half scorers. Gabe Kennedy had nine to lead UAB. UAB took its biggest lead of the game, 50-43, with 11:23 remaining on the strength of back-to-back 3-point baskets from junior guard Ronell Taylor. "Those two three?s were huge," Anderson said. "It opened some things up for us in the post."
Southern Miss now goes back on the road for a Friday night game at South Florida.
