University of Southern Mississippi Athletics
Eagles Sweep Cougars
2/18/2004 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
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Final Game Statistics
Eagles Sweep Cougars
Hattiesburg, Miss. - Southern Miss needed three overtimes to beat Houston on the road 15 days ago, but only the usual 40 minutes to post a 70-48 victory over the same Cougar team in Green Coliseum here Wednesday night.
The victory pushed Southern Miss to 12-10 overall and 5-6 in Conference USA, while Houston fell to 8-15 overall, and 2-10 in the league.
Both teams got off to a slow start in this one, with Houston holding a narrow lead for the first 10-minutes of the first half. The Cougars led by as many as seven points, 10-3, at the 15:52 mark, but the Golden Eagles pulled even at 12-12 with 10:43 remaining and went on to built a 31-23 halftime lead.
Houston managed only seven baskets in the opening half, while the Eagles were good for 13. Using more players early than in recent games, Southern Miss got points from eight of the 11 players who saw action in the first half. Jasper Johnson led the group with seven points.
The visiting Cougars cut the Southern Miss lead to as few as five points in early second half going, only to see the Eagles respond with an 11-0 run that lasted from the 15:09 mark until the 6:24 mark and pushed USM from a 40-34 lead to a 51-36 margin that did not again fall below 13 points, and grew to as many as 22.
The Golden Eagles played all 13 players on their roster, eight of them scored and four of them got into double figures, led by Jasper Johnson's 16 points. Jarekus Singleton, playing perhaps his best game of the season, added 15, David Haywood 11, including a couple of key 3-pointers, and Greg Johnson added 10. Leading scorer and rebounder Charles Gaines was limited to nine points and eight rebounds, but also had two assists, three blocks and a steal in 23 minutes, after getting in early foul trouble.
Houston was led by Marcus Oliver with 15 points, and Lanny Smith, who had 31 in the earlier game in Houston, added 13 more. Southern Miss also won the rebounding battle, 43-30, and limited the Cougars to .333 (18-54) shooting.
Following the Houston game, the Eagles will host Charlotte in a Saturday afternoon game, play road games at Memphis (Feb. 24) and DePaul (Feb. 28) and then close the regular season at home against Tulane (Mar. 3) and East Carolina (Mar. 8).
