University of Southern Mississippi Athletics
Southern Miss
Longwood
Southern Miss' Breakout Season Comes to a Close in CBI
3/20/2019 9:07:00 PM | Men's Basketball
FARMVILLE, Va. -- The Golden Eagle men's basketball team was unable to counter a fast, energetic start from Longwood, and the host Lancers took a 90-68 victory on Wednesday in the first round of the Roman College Basketball Invitational.
"Going into the game, I knew Longwood was going to be excited to play," head coach Doc Sadler said. "Nobody on our team could get going, and it leaves a real bad taste because these kids had a great year. Give Longwood credit, they made 18 three-pointers, but a lot of them were stand-still shots and others where they penetrated the line, things that we had done well at defending all year."
It served as the final collegiate action for seniors Cortez Edwards, Tyree Griffin, Anfernee Hampton, Kevin Holland and Dominic Magee. They were with the program 3-5 years, and amidst all barriers the program faced, made a lasting impression on Sadler.
"I can't say enough about those guys," Sadler said. "They stuck with it when it wasn't the thing to do. This wasn't our team tonight, and as I told them after the game, I was so proud to be their coach. When I'm finished coaching, this will be one of the teams I remember the most. For those five seniors, the world is fixing to hit them. You have to get up every day, stick with it and put in an honest day's work."
Southern Miss (20-13, 11-7 C-USA) found itself down 12-4 and 25-13 before getting within 29-26 on a short Gabe Watson jumper at 3:41. The Lancers regrouped to take a 41-32 lead at the break, snapping the Golden Eagles' 12-game, halftime-lead streak.
Holland connected from deep for the first points of the second half, and after the team stayed within 45-40 at 17:58 on two Leonard Harper-Baker free-throws, Longwood posted a 17-3 run that effectively put the game out of reach.
The freshman Watson had a career-high 17 points to lead the squad. Hampton, in his collegiate finale, had his fifth-career double-figure scoring game (11 points) and second of the season.
NOTABLE
-This was Southern Miss' first-ever trip to the CBI and its first postseason appearance since the 2012 NCAA Tournament (2013-14 NITs later vacated).
-LaDavius Draine ended the season with a 46.4 percent clip (78-for-168), surpassing Casey Fisher (1987-88) for the best single-season, three-point percentage in program history.
-He tied David Wall (1999-00) for the sixth-most three-point makes in a single season.
-Tyree Griffin ended his career with 434 assists (No. 3 in school history despite just two years with the team), including a school-record 233 this season.
-Cortez Edwards' seven points gives him 1,401 for his career, good for No. 17 all-time.
-Griffin and Edwards also ended their careers with four of the five-highest steals seasons the school has ever seen.
-Kevin Holland's two triples gave him 137 for his career, tying Jerrold Brooks (2012-14) for No. 7 in program history. Brooks was later ruled ineligible those years.
