Louisiana Tech's Hot Second-Half Start Defeats Southern Miss

Saturday, December 29

Ruston, La.

4 p.m. CT

Southern Miss

Louisiana Tech

Louisiana Tech's Hot Second-Half Start Defeats Southern Miss

12/29/2018 7:34:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score Final Stats (PDF)

HATTIESBURG, Miss. -- Southern Miss' fourth consecutive road game saw Louisiana Tech tally a 71-56 victory inside the Thomas Assembly Center on Saturday evening.

"The bottom line is that if we don't bring more energy and passion than that, especially in the second half, you're not going to have any success at home or on the road," head coach Doc Sadler said. "Louisiana Tech is playing as well as anybody in the league. You knew they were going to bring everything, and if you don't exceed that energy or even match it, it's going to be tough. We made some shots, especially Kevin [Holland] to bail us out and make it look like we played better."

The Golden Eagles held LA Tech to 10 points over the final nine minutes of the first half. Kevin Holland hit back-to-back three-pointers from the same corner to cap off an 8-0 run over 3:45 that forced a Bulldog timeout. Southern Miss was down just 26-23 at the 3:18 mark.

LA Tech (11-3, 1-0 C-USA), which held a 20-10 advantage on paint points, outscored the Golden Eagles 24-6 over the first 6:18 of the second half to seize control (57-33).

"They're averaging 80 points and about 10 three-pointers per game, and the thing you can't do is give them those in transition or points in the paint," Sadler said. "We held them to almost 10 points below their average, but unless you run your offense with patience and pace and get the ball side to side, you can't just score at will like we've been able to some games."

The Golden Eagles removed their starters by the 11:30 mark of the second half, and Sadler said he appreciated their effort. Boban Jacdonmi, making his second start, played a career-high 17 minutes.

"The good news is that for those who came off the bench, I thought they played their tails off," Sadler said. "They played hard, got rebounds and took good shots. They didn't make all of them, and you aren't going to, but that was positive that all the guys who came in played well."

Southern Miss (8-5, 0-1 C-USA) continues its six-game road marathon Thursday at Rice. Tip-off is set for 3 p.m. CT.

NOTABLE
-Kevin Holland went 3-for-4 from beyond the arc. He is 6-for-11 his last two games after being 8-for-28 prior.
-LaDavius Draine (13 points, 3-for-3 behind the arc) led Southern Miss in scoring for the first time of his career.
-Freshmen Ladarius Marshall and Tyler Stevenson combined for five minutes in the first half. The pair had 20 minutes against Division I competition entering the night.
-Cortez Edwards (10 points) now has 1,148 for his career. He is nine points and one steal away from catching Neil Watson (2011-14) at No. 28 and 3 in the career scoring and steals rankings.