Hardy, Stevenson Help Southern Miss Edge Middle Tennessee, 64-59

Saturday, January 16

Reed Green Coliseum

4 p.m.

Southern Miss

-76,33 CUSA

Middle Tennessee

-37,13 CUSA

Middle Tenn.

Southern Miss.

Hardy, Stevenson Help Southern Miss Edge Middle Tennessee, 64-59

1/16/2021 7:38:00 PM | Men's Basketball

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HATTIESBURG, Miss. -- Tae Hardy and Tyler Stevenson each produced 18 points to go with clutch plays down the stretch as Southern Miss defeated Middle Tennessee 64-59 on Saturday evening. The Golden Eagles also topped the Blue Raiders, 84-54, Friday night.

"We played a very determined opponent, and you have to give Middle Tennessee and Coach McDevitt a lot of credit," head coach Jay Ladner said. "They are just like us with a lot of new faces on their team, and they're an athletic bunch. I was proud of us to win without having our A-game, which we had last night. Our defense carried us again tonight, and we feel that any time we can hold our opponent to under 38 percent shooting, win the rebounding battle and limit turnovers, we should win the game. The anomaly is that we didn't do the third well tonight."

Hardy's swipe of a Blue Raider pass and subsequent layup gave Southern Miss a 53-48 lead at 4:46, its largest since 16:50. He also broke a tie with 2:56 left on a short jumper. Stevenson's heroics came at 1:46, when he delivered an emphatic put-back slam to push it back to a 57-53 advantage.

After the Blue Raiders went 1-for-2 at the line, Hardy sank a pair of free-throws to make it 59-54 with 1:04 left. Jaron Pierre Jr. also went 4-for-4 over the remaining time to keep Middle Tennessee away.

"Tae Hardy is such a winner and a competitor," Ladner said. "He played the entire second half after only a little bit of time in the first (due to foul trouble). It was a tale of two cities. I don't think we win the game without him."

The Blue Raiders (3-7, 1-3 C-USA), who trailed 28-24 at the half, took their first lead since the opening minute at the 15:01 mark of the second half. The Golden Eagles forced 16 turnovers to offset their 20.

Southern Miss (7-6, 3-3 C-USA) next hits the road to battle UTSA Friday (6 p.m.) and Saturday (3 p.m.).

NOTABLE
-Tae Hardy's 18 points were a career-high and marked his ninth game scoring in double-figures.
-Tyler Stevenson averaged 15.0 ppg and 7.5 rpg against the Blue Raiders over the weekend. He is averaging 16.5 ppg in C-USA play after entering at 10.0.
-All eight of the freshman Jaron Pierre's points came in the second half, and he also finished with nine rebounds.
-LaDavius Draine went 3-for-5 from deep, giving him 205 triples for his career (second in school history). His 12 points tonight gave him his first double-figure scoring game of the C-USA season.
-Draine's 1,049 points put him 17 away from catching Roy Danforth (1958-62) for No. 34 in school history.
-Southern Miss' 24 free-throw attempts were one off a season-high set in the Jan. 1 overtime win over UTEP.
-The Golden Eagles are 5-2 when holding their foe below 40-percent shooting.
-Fifteen of Jay Ladner's 16 wins at Southern Miss have come when leading or tied at the half. The Golden Eagles are 7-1 this year when up at the break.