Fiery Comeback in Final Minutes Falls Short in 61-56 Defeat to Tulane

Wednesday, December 4

Reed Green Coliseum

7 p.m. CT

Southern Miss

2-7

Tulane

7-1

Tulane

Southern Miss

Fiery Comeback in Final Minutes Falls Short in 61-56 Defeat to Tulane

12/4/2019 10:29:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score Final Stats (PDF)

HATTIESBURG, Miss. -- Southern Miss trailed by 12 with 2:37 left, then got within 57-54 at the 16-second mark, but Tulane made its final four free-throws to seal a 61-56 decision inside Reed Green Coliseum on Wednesday night.

"I've got to do a better job at having us prepared," head coach Jay Ladner said. "I thought we did a poor job of attacking. Tulane has a very unique style of defense, and I thought we looked disorganized. One of the things we look to accomplish each game is to shoot more free-throws. We're continuously behind the eight-ball on that."

Trailing by 10 with under a minute left, freshman Auston Leslie (who had taken just two shots all season) drilled a corner three. Southern Miss forced a Tulane turnover, which in turn set up David McCoy to feed Leslie for another triple from the same spot with 38 ticks left. The Green Wave went 1-for-2 at the foul line, and after Leslie's third-straight try rimmed out, Tyler Stevenson swooped in for a two-handed, put-back slam to bring it to a one-shot game.

Southern Miss (2-7) saw 43 of its 56 of its points (77 percent) come from freshmen and sophomores. Rookie Angel Smith provided a valuable spark off the bench with eight points and two rebounds. He had played in two games with one field goal prior to the evening.

Tulane (7-1) entered the night with a vote in the USA Today/Coaches poll. It gained most of its separation with a 9-0 run in the first half that gave it a 26-17 advantage at 5:09, eventually leading 30-24 at the break.

"That's a difficult thing," Ladner said of the offensive play. "We are not as far along as I want us to be. We've got to do a better job at executing there. We didn't change anything late in the game; it was run the way it was supposed to be run. But Auston Leslie really made some shots for us."

The Golden Eagles will look to right the ship Saturday with another home game, this time against Southern Illinois. Tip-off is at 2 p.m. CT.

NOTABLE
-This was the 80th meeting between the schools, the most of any Golden Eagle opponent this season (Tulane leads 43-37).
-Southern Miss forced 19 turnovers, its best against a Division I foe this year.
-The Golden Eagles held Tulane to 5-for-21 shooting from deep (23.8 percent), the fourth time in the early season they held their opponent to below 25 percent.
-Tyler Stevenson, making his second-career start, led Southern Miss in points (10) and rebounds (nine), the latter serving as a career-high.
-Stevenson now has six double-figure scoring games this season, including three in a row.