Southern Miss
Morehead State
Basketball Falls on Road to Morehead State
11/28/2015 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
MOREHEAD, Ky. - The Southern Miss basketball team fell behind in the first half and were unable to rally, falling 61-46 to Morehead State on the road on Saturday afternoon. The Golden Eagles (0-4) played even with the Eagles (4-1) in the second half, but an early deficit proved too much to overcome.
"You have to give Morehead State credit," head coach Doc Sadler said after the game. "I think Sean's (Woods) team is the best team we have played this year. Defensively, I knew going into the game they were going to be very aggressive and they were. We weren't quite ready for what they gave us.
"Once we settled down a little bit and went with a much smaller lineup, we handled the pressure a little bit better. I was pleased that our guys continued to compete. This is a good basketball team we played today. They got after us and it would have been easy to take a step back, but we didn't. We had some other guys step up. Even though we didn't get the win, there were some positive things I saw that we can build on."
The Golden Eagles were led by Robert Thomas III who paced the team with 13 points. The true freshman scored all of his season-high points in the second half. Thomas finished the game 5-for-7 from the floor, including a 3-for-4 performance from behind the arc.
Michael Ramey chipped in 11 points, while Kourtlin Jackson notched a career-high nine points. Ramey, who led the team with six points at the break, finished the game 4-for-7 from the field and matched Thomas with a 3-for-4 game from three. Jackson scored all nine of his points at the charity stripe. The senior transfer was 9-for-12 at the free throw line, drawing numerous fouls driving the lane. Khari Price finished the game with six points, while Jackson and Ramey led the team with four rebounds each.
As a team, Southern Miss was 12-for-35 from the floor, going 8-for-15 from three-point range. The Golden Eagles finished the game 14-for-19 (.737) from the free throw line, marking the second consecutive game that the team has notched over 70-percent shooting from the charity stripe.
Morehead State had a pair of double-digit scorers as Corban Collins and Miguel Dicent each scored 12 points apiece. The Eagles were led by DeJuan Marrero and Lyonell Gaines who pulled down six and five rebounds, respectively.
In the first half, the home team jumped out to an 8-0 lead before a Price triple cut the margin to five points. The Eagles added a field goal to go into the first media break with 15:21 remaining to take a 10-3 lead. The Golden Eagles defense held tough allowing just one point over the next four minutes of play.
MSU extended its advantage to 17-3 before four consecutive free throws made by Jackson trimmed the margin. Ramey and Raheem Watts each traded three pointers with Morehead State to make the score 23-11 with 5:49 remaining in the half. After a pair of free throws extended the advantage to 13, Ramey responded with a triple to cut the score to 25-15. The two teams combined for six free throws - five for Morehead State - over the final two minutes for a halftime score of 30-16.
In the second half, the two teams traded points with Morehead State coming away with a slight 31-30 advantage. The Golden Eagles shot 40-percent from the floor, including 71-percent from behind the arc in the second half. In addition, Southern Miss was 9-for-11 (.818) from the free throw line in the second half.
The Eagles opened the half by extending their lead to 21 before Thomas broke a scoring drought with a jumper. Price followed with a triple to trim the margin to 37-21. With 12:13 remaining in the game, Morehead used a layup to push the advantage to 44-21, but a three pointer by Thomas once again stopped a MSU run.
With just over four minutes to play, Morehead State took their largest lead of the game at 60-36. Southern Miss showed its resiliency by continuing to battle over the final four minutes. The Golden Eagles outscored the Eagles 10-1 in the final minutes.
Cortez Edwards started the run with a pair of free throws. Thomas connected on his third triple of the game to pull to within 19. A free throw by MSU pushed the lead back to 20, but the Golden Eagles used five straight points by Ramey to close out the game.
Southern Miss returns to action on Tuesday, Dec. 1 as the Golden Eagles head to Troy, Ala. to take on Troy. Tipoff is slated for 7:00 p.m.
