Southern Miss
UTSA
Southern Miss Downs UTSA, 86-70
1/30/2016 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
HATTIESBURG, Miss. (AP) Southern Miss turned in arguably its best performance on a basketball court this season on the day it honored arguably the greatest player in the program's history Saturday night.
Shooting a season best from the floor - including 50 percent from 3-point range - the Golden Eagles cemented an 86-70 Conference USA victory over UTSA by knocking down their free throws in the final 2 ½ minutes.
Every member of Southern Miss' starting lineup scored at least 12 points - the first time the Golden Eagles had put five into double-figure scoring in the same game - as 3,343 turned out to celebrate Clarence Weatherspoon Day at Green Coliseum.
"We're starting to really jell," said point guard Khari Price, who posted a double-double with 12 points and career-high 11 assists. "We're starting to know where each other is going to be at on the floor and I just think we're starting to come together at the right time.
"I think it was just a matter of time and we're starting to hit that stride now."
After dropping their first six games of the year, the Golden Eagles (7-12, 4-4 C-USA) have gone 7-6, including wins in three of their past four games.
Guard Kourtlin Jackson led Southern Miss with 20 points and shared game-high honors with seven rebounds. Forward Raheem Watts scored a career-high 19 points, while guard Keljin Blevins added 14 points and seven rebounds. Forward Quinton Campbell added 13 points, while Price added six rebounds.
UTSA (4-18, 2-7) was led by guards Ryan Bowie and Christian Wilson with 23 points and 22 points, respectively.
Southern Miss scored its most points in a single game this season, in part, after shooting a season-high 52.4 percent from the floor while dishing a season-best 17 assists as a team.
The Golden Eagles also made 14 treys Saturday, marking the second consecutive game that they had broke single-game highs for 3-pointers made.
USM shot 50 percent (9 of 18) from beyond the arc in the first half, with 75 percent of the Golden Eagles' field goal attempts (24 of 32) launched from long range. Nine of Golden Eagles 11 field goals in the first half were 3-pointers.
"It gets us going," said Watts, who was 4 of 6 from 3-point land. "The guys on the bench, they get into it. The intensity and the energy level just goes through the roof, and that's when we play our best."
Southern Miss trailed only once, using a 15-4 run to turn a one-point deficit into a 19-9 lead with 10:30 left in the half.
"It's not like a secret or something we just figured out, but it is something that we did a little different (Saturday) night: We got off to a good start," Southern Miss coach Doc Sadler said. "It's not like we don't want to do that every night, but we've had a problem doing that.
"Give our guys credit. They came out and made some baskets and we didn't dig ourselves a big hole."
UTSA kept the Golden Eagles within striking distance, though, with Bowie scoring 15 first-half points, including four 3-pointers.
The Roadrunners pulled within 26-24 Wilson's basket, but back-to-back treys by Watts and Campbell bumped the lead to 32-24 with 3:04 left in the first half.
Campbell swished another 3-pointer down the stretch of the half as USM took a 35-29 lead into the break.
UTSA got within five points, 36-31, on Wilson's pull-up jumper less than two minutes into the second half, but Jackson scored eight points and Watts added seven in a 28-16 run that left USM with its largest lead, 64-47, with 8:53 to play.
UTSA, which would score nearly a third of its points from the free-throw line, got to the foul line frequently as USM hit a scoring drought of more than 3 minutes and the Roadrunners got within eight points with 5:39 to play.
The Golden Eagles made just one basket in the final 2:23, but closed the game by making 18 of 20 free throws (90 percent) to pull away again at the end.
