Southern Miss Falls 70-64 at UTSA

Friday, January 22

San Antonio, TX

6 PM

Southern Miss

-77,34 CUSA

UTSA

-68,25 CUSA

Southern Miss.

UTSA

Southern Miss Falls 70-64 at UTSA

1/22/2021 9:24:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score Game Book (PDF)

SAN ANTONIO, Texas -- Southern Miss turned a 17-point, first-half deficit to a one-possession game in the final minutes, but UTSA was able to get the stops and scores late to win 70-64 on Friday night.

The two teams will square off again Saturday at 3 p.m., and the host has won all 13 meetings in the series (Southern Miss leads 7-6).

"I'm having a hard time putting my finger on it, of course, but we've been slow starting," head coach Jay Ladner said. "It's almost like we are in second or third gear. To their credit, they keep coming back, and we were down a point late, but I'm very frustrated. I thought the way we started was really the difference in the ballgame. In any phase early, I didn't think our offense or defense was playing well. The guys who came in that second wave really stabilized us and cut the 17-point lead down to five."

The Golden Eagles (7-7, 3-4 C-USA) ended the half on an 11-0 run over the final 3:59, forcing eight consecutive UTSA missed shots, to trail only 34-29. Their largest deficit was 30-13 at 6:22.

Down 42-38 with 14 minutes to play, the Golden Eagles had a chance to pull within two for the first time since the opening minute. Two missed shots down low led to a UTSA three-pointer and 45-38 advantage.

Four-straight free-throws by Tyler Stevenson and a layup by Jaron Pierre Jr. cut the deficit to 57-54 with 4:54 to play. After UTSA called timeout, Stevenson completed the 8-0 run with a jumper off a turnover.

Pierre's step-back three-pointer in front of his bench with 34 ticks left made it a 66-64 margin, but UTSA stayed strong at the foul line to make four in a row that closed it out.

UTSA improved to 6-8 overall and 2-5 in C-USA.

NOTABLE
-Southern Miss went 12-for-14 at the line, with the 85.7 percent clip marking a season-high.
-Justin Johnson played his most minutes (12) since Tulane (Dec. 9).
-Tyler Stevenson surpassed 20-plus points for the third time this season (William Carey, UTEP) and sixth of his career.
-His 23 points and 10 rebounds also gave him his sixth-career double-double and second of the year.
-Stevenson has also scored in double-figures in all seven C-USA games.