Southern Miss
Middle Tennessee State
First-Place Blue Raiders Defeat Southern Miss, 72-56
1/26/2017 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
MURFREESBORO, Tenn. -- Middle Tennessee got 40 points combined from Tyrik Dixon and Giddy Potts as it defeated Southern Miss 72-56 inside the Murphy Center on Thursday night.
Michael Ramey stared his defender down at the wing and knocked down a long three-pointer that put Southern Miss back up 18-16 at the 7:34 mark, but the Blue Raiders responded with a 17-3 run for a 12-point lead with 2:46 before intermission.
Middle Tennessee, which entered the game third in C-USA action with 75.7 ppg, shot 48 percent in the first half. Southern Miss did shoot 9-for-10 from the free-throw line, its highest single-game percentage in the Doc Sadler era.
Cortez Edwards exploded for seven points in the first two minutes of the second half, allowing the Golden Eagles to shave six points off their 37-23 halftime deficit.
Southern Miss got within 41-33 with 17 minutes to play on a hook jumper off the glass by Raheem Watts, and then again reached single-digits with 10:30 remaining on another Watts bucket. Ramey also knocked down back-to-back three-pointers in the final two minutes to finish perfect on the night.
The road trip continues for the Golden Eagles with a 7 p.m. contest at UAB on Saturday night.
NOTES
-Cortez Edwards set a new career-high, topping his 18 at Jackson State on Dec. 4.
-Edwards also entered the game seventh in the league for 34.9 minutes per game in C-USA action.
-Michael Ramey went 4-for-4 on three-pointers, tying a career-high. In his only other game against Middle Tennessee, last February, he went 4-for-5 from beyond the arc.
-D'Angelo Richardson led his team with three assists on the heels of his career-high five last Saturday versus Rice.
-Middle Tennessee had just two free-throw attempts, the second time Southern Miss held its opponent to single-digits (Alabama A&M had eight).
-The 41.2 percent clip from long-range (7-for-17) matched the team's best outing since Dec. 10.
