University of Southern Mississippi Athletics
Southern Miss
Memphis*
Men's Basketball Falls To No. 4 Memphis, 85-68
1/21/2006 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
HATTIESBURG, Miss.-- The Southern Miss men's basketball team gave No. 4 Memphis everything it wanted Saturday in Reed Green Coliseum, before the Tigers put the game away in the final three minutes, winning 85-68.
With the win, Memphis improves to 17-2, 3-0 in Conference USA, while Southern Miss falls to 7-12, 1-3.
The Golden Eagles were within four points in the first four minutes of the game, before Memphis took a 19-10 lead with 14:44 to play. The Tigers would lead by that margin two more times, before the Golden Eagles got back within four, 23-19 with 9:33 remaining.
Memphis then pushed its lead out to 10, 30-20 at the 7:07 mark and took its biggest first half margin, 35-21 with 5:31 to play, before the Golden Eagles used an 8-0 run, highlighted by a four-point play from Courtney Beasley, to get within six, 35-29 with 3:33 remaining in the first half. The Golden Eagles were again within six, thanks to a three-point basket by Travis Hall with 2:25 to play, before Memphis took a 45-35 lead at halftime.
In the second half, the Golden Eagles were within eight on two occasions in the opening minute, before Memphis pushed its lead out to 14 at the 15:36 mark. The Tigers pushed their lead out to 16, 60-44 with 13:05 to play, and led by that margin, 65-49, with 10:48 remaining.
But the Golden Eagles cut the lead down, using a 5-0 run, all the points coming from Jarekus Singleton, to get within 11 at the 9:23 mark. The Golden Eagles were within that margin again with 8:36 to play, before Singleton connected on a jumper at the 5:52 mark to pull Southern Miss within 10, 71-61. Southern Miss would get within 10 on two other occasions, the last time at the 3:14 mark, before Memphis pushed its lead out in the closing minutes, winning 85-68.
Memphis out-shot Southern Miss 54 (27-50) to 45.2 (19-42) percent and also held a 32-29 edge in rebounding.
Singleton paced four Southern Miss players in double-digit scoring with 19 points, all in the second half. Beasley finished with 12 points, while David Cornwell added 12 and Mildon Ambres had 10.
Darius Washington finished with a game-high 20 points for Memphis, while Robert Dozier and Chris Douglas-Roberts each had 14. Rodney Carney finished with 11 points, all in the first half, for the Tigers.
Southern Miss returns to action on Wednesday, hosting Rice in a 7 p.m., contest in Reed Green Coliseum.
