Southern Miss
Troy
Southern Miss routs Troy, 89-71
12/10/2017 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
HATTIESBURG, Miss. -- Five inches of snow fell on Hattiesburg from Friday morning into the afternoon, and it would not be too far off to suggest Southern Miss' hot shooting on Sunday helped it melt away.
The Golden Eagles sprinted past Troy, the defending Sun Belt champion, 89-71 in Reed Green Coliseum behind 57 percent shooting. Dominic Magee scored 27 points, Tyree Griffin added 23 (career-high) and Cortez Edwards poured in 16 as well to inflict the damage.
"I really do think we played one of our better games, there's no question about it," head coach Doc Sadler said. "We turned it over seven times in the first half and ended with that many. This team has really shared the ball. We've had 20 or more assists a few times, and if we take good shots, we can shoot. Saying all that, I think more than anything else, only giving up five offensive rebounds despite our size shows how competitive we are."
Southern Miss (5-4) entered the day No. 7 nationally with 9.9 turnovers per game and improved that average on Sunday. Not only that, it held a 22-5 advantage in points off turnovers.
The Golden Eagles were held scoreless over the final 3:42 of the first half, and Troy (5-5) flexed its muscles and closed the half with eight consecutive points to get within 38-31 at the break.
"This win is huge. Everyone knows that team we played today went to the NCAA Tournament last year," Sadler said. "They played Kentucky within eight points this year. Our players know how good they are. Beating a quality opponent will be nothing but good for us."
Eddie Davis III's free-throw with 16:20 left put Southern Miss ahead by double-digits for the rest of the day. Edwards scored six consecutive points, the last bucket a three-on-one fastbreak with an assist from Magee, to get the Golden Eagles ahead 57-43 with 13 minutes remaining.
Griffin nailed a three-pointer from the top of the key with 10:59 remaining to cap off a 12-0 run that increased the Golden Eagle lead to 67-43.
Troy made five consecutive field goals to force a Southern Miss timeout at the 6:21 mark, trailing 76-59, but a D'Angelo Richardson jumper and two Tim Rowe free-throws staved off any potential rally.
"After finals week, seeing us come out and play as well and hard as we did, it's good to see that ball go in the basket," Sadler said.
Southern Miss now turns its attention to a 7 p.m. Wednesday road game at Alabama A&M.
NOTABLE
-Dominic Magee came within two points of a career-high (29), set in his collegiate debut while at Grand Canyon in Dec. 2015. He is averaging 20.3 ppg over the last three contests.
-This was the second-straight game two Golden Eagles had 20-point games. Cortez Edwards had a career-high 29 and Tyree Griffin tied his then-personal-best with 21 last Sunday against Rust College.
-Kevin Holland entered the day No. 2 in C-USA with a 53 percent three-point shooting mark. He went 3-for-5 from beyond the arc to improve his rate to 54 percent (20-for-37).
-The Golden Eagles out-rebounded Troy, 26-25, the first-such occurrence against a Division I team since a 47-29 margin versus North Texas on Feb. 25.
-Southern Miss shot 16-for-19 at the free-throw line (84.2 percent), its best mark with at least that many makes since going 18-for-21 on Nov. 21, 2016 versus Alabama A&M.
-The Golden Eagles out-shot Troy 65 - 62 percent in the second half.
