University of Southern Mississippi Athletics
Southern Miss
5-2
South Alabama
3-4
Southern Miss Outlasts South Alabama, 71-67
11/28/2018 10:27:00 PM | Men's Basketball
HATTIESBURG, Miss. -- The Golden Eagle men's basketball team matched a school record for November wins, and Wednesday's over the visiting South Alabama Jaguars took every ounce of energy, and then some.
"We talked a lot before the game about passion and energy," head coach Sadler said. "Unless you do anything with those two things, you aren't going to be very good. We had not played with passion and energy at all in the past three games for whatever reason. The bottom line is it had gotten worse with every game.
"Tonight, I thought Leonard Harper-Baker came out and set the tone of the basketball game. I'm not sure this isn't the best team that we've played. With Kory Holden [of South Alabama] making his debut and hitting the five threes in the first half, and for us to give up 14 threes and only hit 5, that's a big difference for us to overcome, on top of us not making free throws. I'm just glad we came out and played with passion and energy."
Cortez Edwards (19 points), Tyree Griffin (18) and Harper-Baker (18) were the three-man wrecking crew. Harper-Baker went 6-for-8 from the field with nine rebounds. He also had 13 points on nine rebounds Sunday and is now 19-for-24 (79 percent) shooting on the season.
Southern Miss sprinted to a 17-1 lead that closed to 43-36 at halftime. When both teams traded three-pointers in the first 43 seconds of the second half, there was no turning back from a classic.
The Jaguars took their first lead of the game at 55-54 with 9:34 remaining, capping off a 6-0 run. LaDavius Draine's two free-throws with 4:24 on the clock put the home team ahead 60-59, and it never trailed from there. Kory Holden knocked down one of his eight three-pointers (on just 10 attempts) to get USA within 63-62 at 2:26, but Southern Miss clamped down to up the lead to 68-62 with just 33 seconds remaining.
Several key stats made the difference for the Golden Eagles, none bigger than a 27-7 advantage in points off turnovers. For the game, Southern Miss forced 17 and committed only five. The Golden Eagles were tied for No. 19 nationally with just 10.3 turnovers per game entering the night and were No. 5 last season.
Southern Miss (5-2) will return to action Sunday at 2 p.m. against Rust inside Reed Green Coliseum.
NOTABLE
-Southern Miss snapped a two-game losing streak to its regional rival.
-Despite going 14-for-23 from the foul line (61 percent), the Golden Eagles went 7-for-8 over the final 4:12.
-Tim Rowe blocked two shots in his 17 minutes of play. His five against South Alabama in Nov. 2016 marked the most by a Golden Eagle since Gary Flowers in 2009.
-Cortez Edwards scored 19 points (including 18 in the first half on 8-for-12 shooting) to take sole possession of No. 32 on Southern Miss' all-time scoring list (1,067).
