Golden Eagles Drop Last-Second Heartbreaker at Middle Tennessee

Saturday, January 25

Murfreesboro, Tenn.

5 p.m. CT

Southern Miss

-615,26 CUSA

Middle Tennessee

-516,17 CUSA

Southern Miss.

Middle Tennessee

Golden Eagles Drop Last-Second Heartbreaker at Middle Tennessee

1/25/2020 8:02:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score Final Stats (PDF)

MURFREESBORO, Tenn. -- LaDavius Draine drilled a step-back, three-pointer with 11 ticks left, but Middle Tennessee on the ensuing possession drew a foul on a last-second layup to sink the deciding free-throws in a 65-63 decision on Saturday.

"It's unfortunate it came down to that," head coach Jay Ladner said of the final whistle. "We are really short-handed, and the two times we were forced to get deeper in our bench than we felt like, it really hurt us. There were two quick runs on us. We tried to make it to the end with too much foul trouble, and unfortunately it didn't work out like we wanted to. They were able to stretch too good of a lead."

Gabe Watson had driven to the middle of the baseline when his shot was blocked by Antonio Green on what would have been a two-for-one shot scenario, and Draine grabbed the loose ball and went one step back for the trey in front of his bench.

Middle Tennessee (5-16, 1-7 C-USA) had to travel the length of the floor for the final 11 seconds, but it was ruled that Boban Jacdonmi fouled on the layup with 1.5 ticks to go. Sims made both shots, and the Golden Eagles' hail-mary pass to the opposite free-throw line was picked off.

It was a defensive struggle all the way through. In the second half alone, Southern Miss' 38 total points included 24 in the paint, 11 at the foul line and Draine's aforementioned triple. It was only a 26-25 Blue Raider lead at the break.

Middle Tennessee's largest lead was 51-41 at 10:35, but the Golden Eagles got within 56-53 at 4:59 on a Tyler Stevenson put-back. The Golden Eagles twice got within one in the final 1:18.

"We have to be more consistent," Ladner said. "We have some guys that just need to be more consistent offensively, and if we just hit a few more baskets, we'd be more capable of winning that game, especially after an incredible Thursday night. I was proud of our guys for showing resiliency. Draine had such a big shot, and I thought we did a fair job on defense at pushing them side-to-side in that final possession."

Southern Miss (6-15, 2-6 C-USA) returns to action Thursday when it hosts Old Dominion at 7 p.m.

NOTABLE
-Middle Tennessee improved to 8-3 in the all-time series.
-Boban Jacdonmi (16 points, 12 rebounds) produced his second-career double-double. The 12 boards were a career-high.
-Tyler Stevenson (17 points) led Southern Miss in scoring for the sixth time of his career.
-Southern Miss went 15-for-18 at the foul line (83.3 percent), the seventh time in its eight C-USA games it's shot above 80 percent. The Golden Eagles were a league-best 82.7 percent heading into the game (C-USA games only).