Southern Miss
Middle Tennessee State
Men's Hoops Held Off by Middle Tennessee, 61-51
2/5/2015 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
MURFREESBORO, Tenn. - Middle Tennessee connected on 10-of-12 free throws over the final six minutes, as Southern Miss fell, 61-51, Thursday night at the Murphy Center.
Chip Armelin scored a game-high 21 points and Norville Carey added 18. They also grabbed six rebounds apiece.
"The first half, I didn't think that competed as hard as we could," said Southern Miss head coach Doc Sadler. "They responded (in the second half), and played as hard as we could play. It was just a couple of shots. There were a few shots that could have made it a close game, but they didn't fall, and (Middle Tennessee) made their free throws."
Middle Tennessee got the jump and immediately got on the board. Armelin put Southern Miss ahead with a three as the shot clock was winding down. Jaquel Richmond answered with a three of his own, but Carey's dunk tied the game at five just 3:19 into the game.
The Blue Raiders scored six straight points over the next 2:44 to take an 11-5 lead as Southern Miss went for straight possessions without scoring. But Armelin converted a three-point play to pull the Golden Eagles to within 11-8.
After Darnell Harris hit a jumper, Carey made one-of-two free throws. The teams then traded baskets before Middle Tennessee scored five straight to take a 21-11 into the under-eight media timeout. Michael O'Donnell and Armelin bookended a pair of three-pointers around an MT free throw to get Southern Miss within 22-17. But, the Blue Raiders went on an 8-2 run to take its largest lead of the half, 30-19, with 2:28 to play in the half.
Shadell Millinghaus hit a pair of free throws and Perrin Buford hit one-of-two for Middle Tennessee. Carey then hit a jumper, but Jaqawn Raymond's jumper with nine seconds left sent Southern Miss into the break down, 33-23.
Raymond hit a three to open the second half, pushing the Blue Raiders' lead to 13, their largest of the game. After trading baskets, Southern Miss ripped off an 8-0 run to pull to within 38-33 with 14:44 to play. However, the Golden Eagles made just one of their next six shots, as Middle Tennessee went on a 10-3 run over the next 4:39 to take a 48-48 lead.
Southern Miss would get no closer than seven points the rest of the way.
The Black and Gold shot 45.2% (19-of-42) from the field and 35.7% (5-of-14) from three. Middle Tennessee was 17-of-44 (38.6%) and 9-of-24 (37.5%) from three.
Marcus Tarrance led the Blue Raiders with 15 points and Giddy Potts added 14.
Southern Miss closes its road trip this Saturday, February 7, when it travels to Birmingham, Ala., to face UAB. Tip-off is scheduled for 2 p.m. C.T.
