Southern Miss
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UTEP
Men's Basketball Drops C-USA Contest at UTEP
1/17/2007 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Jan. 17, 2007
EL PASO, Texas - UTEP got a game-high 22 points from Stefon Jackson and forced Southern Miss to a season-high 25 turnovers to beat the Golden Eagles 68-50 here Wednesday night at the Don Haskins Center in C-USA action.
The Golden Eagles (11-5, 1-2) lost for the second straight time as they were led by Craig Craft, who scored 13 points. Jeremy Wise added 10 points.
Southern Miss held the Miners to 31.7 percent shooting (19-of-60), but UTEP was 8-of-19 (42.1 percent) from 3-point range and 22-of-34 (64.7 percent) from the free throw line.
"I am disappointed, but not discouraged," said Southern Miss third-year coach Larry Eustachy. "There was a time when we had a chance to get back into this game, but we did not have the toughness and couldn't quite muster it tonight."
The Golden Eagles, down 36-23 at the half, outscored the home team 16-11 over the first seven and a half minutes of the second half - cutting the gap to eight at 47-39 - but the Miners answered with a 12-2 run after that and Southern Miss could not cut the gap under double digits the rest of the way.
UTEP used a strong first-half, 3-point shooting effort to pull out in front of the Golden Eagles. The Miners finished the first 20 minutes by hitting 7-of-15 shots from beyond the arc, including their last five buckets over the final 6:04..
The Miners (11-7, 3-1) also benefited from 14 first-half turnovers by Southern Miss, which led to 20 points for the home squad.
Southern Miss was outrebounded for the third time this season, 43-40, as Andre Stephens and Sai'Quon Stone paced the Golden Eagles with seven each.
The Golden Eagles return to action, Saturday, ending a stretch of four-of-five games away from home, when they face UAB in Birmingham. Game time is set for 1 p.m.
