Southern Miss
Houston
Golden Eagles Fall To Cougars In Quarterfinals
3/8/2007 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
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March 8, 2007
MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) - Robert McKiver scored 28 points on Thursday and Houston weathered a second-half rally by Southern Mississippi as the Cougars defeated the Golden Eagles 62-59 in the quarterfinals of the Conference USA Tournament.
McKiver connected on 10-of-19 shots from the field, including hitting five of his nine 3-pointers for the Cougars (17-14).
Southern Mississippi cut the lead to two when DeWayne Green got a rebound basket with 9.4 seconds left, and Southern Mississippi was within 3 points on the last possession.
But a 3-point attempt by Craig Craft hit the front of the rim as time expired, ending the tournament run for Southern Mississippi (20-11).
Marcus Malone added 20 points for Houston.
Jeremy Wise led Southern Mississippi with 16 points, despite shooting 6-of-17 from the field and committing 10 of the Golden Eagles' 21 turnovers. Sai'Quon Stone finished with 10 points. Wise had nine rebounds and Stone eight.
Southern Mississippi, the tournament's sixth seed, trailed by 11 points midway through the second half before rallying to take the lead. The two teams exchanged leads the rest of the way, including two ties, before a pair of free throws by Malone and a breakaway layup by Robert Lee, gave the Cougars enough of a cushion in the final two minutes.
Houston moves into Friday's semifinals against Rice, which defeated second-seed UCF 53-51 in the first game of the Thursday afternoon session.
Houston led 23-19 at the half as McKiver scored 12 points before the break.
Neither team shot particularly well; the Cougars hit 35 percent, while Southern Mississippi managed 31 percent and was further hindered by 11 first-half turnovers.
Oliver Lafayette, the Cougars' second-leading scorer, missed all five of his shots in the half, and all seven for the game. Meanwhile, Wise was 2-of-9 for Southern Mississippi before the break.
McKiver scored the first 8 points of the second half, and after one of two free throws with 16:01 left, he had 20 points, compared to 19 for Southern Mississippi and the Cougars were leading 32-19.
The Golden Eagles took a 52-48 lead thanks to a 20-5 run midway through the second half, capped by a dunk by Stephens after a Cougar turnover with 5:36 left.
