Southern Miss
Middle Tennessee State
Southern Miss stuns No. 1-seeded Middle Tennessee in overtime
3/8/2018 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
FRISCO, Texas -- The Southern Miss men's basketball team's magical ride continued Thursday night in the C-USA Tournament quarterfinals, taking down two-time defending champion and No. 1-seeded Middle Tennessee, 71-68, in overtime.
The Golden Eagles are now 3-0 in March, including a 72-64 home win over Louisiana Tech and a 69-68 decision against FIU on Wednesday. Southern Miss has won two C-USA Tournament games for the first time since 2010. The Blue Raiders have also advanced to the NCAA Round of 32 each of the past two seasons.
Cortez Edwards, fresh off a career-high 29 points the night before and 21 in the regular-season finale, led the way with another 23. He also had a career-high five triples on just six attempts.
Middle Tennessee took its first lead of the night, 10-9, on a layup at the 10:02 mark. Edwards scored eight consecutive points and finished off his flurry by assisting Tyree Griffin on a three-pointer (all over a 1:25 span), putting Southern Miss within 26-22 at 3:19.
Dominic Magee hit a three-pointer at 15:06 for the Golden Eagles' first lead since it was 11-10 at 9:37. Southern Miss took its largest lead of the night, 49-42, at 6:19 before the Blue Raiders regained the lead with a 9-0 run at 3:41. Tim Rowe calmly made two free-throws to tie it back up.
Nick King, the C-USA Player of the Year, got a tip-in with 40 seconds to go that cut Southern Miss' lead to 59-58, and after a foul allowed Eddie Davis III to make two free-throws, the Blue Raiders tied it right back on a Giddy Potts three-pointer with 18 seconds left.
Overtime was of little concern for the Golden Eagles, even after the Blue Raiders struck first. An Edwards three-pointer and two free-throws by Magee made it a three-point lead, and Magee's three-pointer with 2:36 left made it a five-point game. King got MTSU within 70-68 on a layup with 1:44 to play, and that would be it for the Blue Raiders.
D'Angelo Richardson went 1-for-2 at the foul line with four seconds to go, and the half-court shot missed wide.
Southern Miss now looks to its semifinal matchup versus No. 4 Marshall on Friday at 12:30 p.m. CT. The game will air on CBS Sports Network.
NOTABLE
-This was the first overtime game in the C-USA Championships since 2015.
-It was the Golden Eagles' first overtime game since Feb. 23, 2017 at Rice.
-Southern Miss snapped a seven-game losing streak to the Blue Raiders, and the previous meeting before then was an 80-66 win in 1959.
-Cortez Edwards now has 11, 20-point games in his career and 934 points as a Golden Eagle.
-Edwards made five 3-pointers, and his previous career-high was three.
-Southern Miss' 10 steals were its most since Jan. 18 versus Rice.
-The Golden Eagles were 8-for-13 on three-pointers after halftime and ended 13-for-25.
-Southern Miss held Middle Tennessee to just six free-throw attempts.
-Dominic Magee finished with 12 points and nine rebounds on the heels of having 14 boards the previous night.
