Men's Basketball Takes Exhibition Victory over Mississippi College

Tuesday, October 29

Reed Green Coliseum

7 p.m. CT

Southern Miss

Mississippi College (EXH)

Men's Basketball Takes Exhibition Victory over Mississippi College

10/29/2019 10:11:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Final Stats (PDF)

HATTIESBURG, Miss. -- Southern Miss built a 34-22 lead at the break and led by as much as 19 in the second half before holding off a furious Mississippi College rally in a 73-68 exhibition victory Tuesday night.

"We knew as a staff they would be well-coached," head coach Jay Ladner said of the Choctaws. "Where we have to learn and mature is that we need to value every possession. We got too casual at times and it hurt us tonight. We let them get off the mat instead of having a killer instinct. You have to give credit to Mississippi College; they did a great job. I love Coach [Mike] Jones, he was a big part of the program here [under M.K. Turk's teams in the 1970s and 80s]. I thought his team did really well."

The Golden Eagles led by 19 with 12:26 to play, but the Choctaws found their way into a 62-54 game with 2:45 to play off of turnovers and transition points. It was a 17-5 run that pulled them within 64-60 with 1:30 to play. The Golden Eagles then made their next seven free-throw attempts and went 9-for-10 from the line to close it out.

"On the other side of it, we built a 19-point lead," Ladner said. "You look at the guys who played those minutes tonight, and you have Tyler Stevenson who was a walk-on last year, Hunter Dean a freshman, Boban Jacdonmi who didn't play a lot last year, as well as Artur Konontsuk, Jay Malone and Angel Smith seeing their first action. The few guys on our team with any significant experience on our team have to do a better job at having composure and helping these young guys down the stretch."

Jay Malone, a transfer guard out of Southwest Mississippi CC, led the Golden Eagles with 14 points on 4-for-9 shooting. LaDavius Draine (13) and Gabe Watson (12) followed. Southern Miss shot 21-for-25 from the foul line (84 percent), including 17-for-19 (89.5 percent) in the second half, which would have been the best percentage of any game in the 2018-19 season.

The Black and Gold also allowed only two offensive rebounds and held a 37-21 advantage on the boards.

Southern Miss begins its regular season Tuesday, Nov. 5 against Delta State. Tip-off is set for 7 p.m. CT. Season and single-game tickets are available through SouthernMissTickets.com, calling 1-800-844-TICK, or visiting the Pat Ferlise Center during normal business hours.