University of Southern Mississippi Athletics
Sunday, March 1
El Paso, TX
3 p.m. CT
Southern Miss
-920, 511 CUSA
56
at
75
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UTEP
-1514,610 CUSA
1
2
F
USM
29
27
56
UTEP
39
36
75
UTEP's Fast Start Too Much for Southern Miss to Overcome
3/1/2020 6:05:00 PM | Men's Basketball
EL PASO, Texas -- UTEP led 10-0 and 24-10 in the early going, and the Southern Miss men's basketball team was unable to catch up in a 75-56 defeat on Sunday afternoon.
"We dug ourselves a hole," head coach Jay Ladner said. "As always, our guys battled. It's no secret that we have a lack of depth. It hurts because those guys work hard, and it is what it is. I told them I was proud of the way they made it a game early in the second half but had some crucial mistakes."
The game served as the Miners' Senior Day and was the 11th-straight win by the home team in the series since 2015.
Thirty of UTEP's 39 points in the first half came from deep, as the Miners went 10-for-21 to lead 39-29. The second half was a different story, as they missed six of their first seven. Each team scored only two points in the first four minutes of the second half, but the 41-33 deficit was as close as the Golden Eagles could get.
It was an 11-point game with five minutes left after LaDavius Draine found Tyler Stevenson for a dunk, but the Miners responded with a trey and two free-throws to halt any momentum.
"You have to give UTEP (15-14, 6-10 C-USA) credit," Ladner said. "They played with a lot of emotion, and their crowd was behind them. They shot 32 three-pointers, which is something they don't do often, and made a lot of them. We were slow adjusting in getting out to shooters early. We righted the ship, but they also made free-throws late."
Southern Miss (9-20, 5-11 C-USA) returns to action Wednesday in its home finale, hosting Rice at 7 p.m.
NOTABLE
-LaDavius Draine's three-pointer gives him 173 for his career, which ranks third in school history. He is 21 away from tying Casey Fisher (1984-88) for second.
-Leonard Harper-Baker (11 points, 10 rebounds) had his 10th-career double-double (sixth of the year).
-The Golden Eagles won the rebounding battle 34-30, giving them a plus-36 margin the last four games.
"We dug ourselves a hole," head coach Jay Ladner said. "As always, our guys battled. It's no secret that we have a lack of depth. It hurts because those guys work hard, and it is what it is. I told them I was proud of the way they made it a game early in the second half but had some crucial mistakes."
The game served as the Miners' Senior Day and was the 11th-straight win by the home team in the series since 2015.
Thirty of UTEP's 39 points in the first half came from deep, as the Miners went 10-for-21 to lead 39-29. The second half was a different story, as they missed six of their first seven. Each team scored only two points in the first four minutes of the second half, but the 41-33 deficit was as close as the Golden Eagles could get.
It was an 11-point game with five minutes left after LaDavius Draine found Tyler Stevenson for a dunk, but the Miners responded with a trey and two free-throws to halt any momentum.
"You have to give UTEP (15-14, 6-10 C-USA) credit," Ladner said. "They played with a lot of emotion, and their crowd was behind them. They shot 32 three-pointers, which is something they don't do often, and made a lot of them. We were slow adjusting in getting out to shooters early. We righted the ship, but they also made free-throws late."
Southern Miss (9-20, 5-11 C-USA) returns to action Wednesday in its home finale, hosting Rice at 7 p.m.
NOTABLE
-LaDavius Draine's three-pointer gives him 173 for his career, which ranks third in school history. He is 21 away from tying Casey Fisher (1984-88) for second.
-Leonard Harper-Baker (11 points, 10 rebounds) had his 10th-career double-double (sixth of the year).
-The Golden Eagles won the rebounding battle 34-30, giving them a plus-36 margin the last four games.
Team Stats
USM
UTEP
FG%
.423
.456
3FG%
.385
.406
FT%
.875
.769
RB
34
30
TO
17
9
STL
3
11
Game Leaders
Pts
16
FGM
6
3FGM
1
FTM
3
Pts
13
FGM
5
3FGM
0
FTM
3
Pts
11
FGM
5
3FGM
1
FTM
0
Pts
10
FGM
4
3FGM
2
FTM
0
Players Mentioned
G
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