Golden Eagles Edged by UTSA, 78-72

Saturday, January 23

San Antonio, TX

3 PM

Southern Miss

-78,35 CUSA

UTSA

-78,35 CUSA

Southern Miss.

UTSA

Golden Eagles Edged by UTSA, 78-72

1/23/2021 6:08:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score Game Book (PDF)

HATTIESBURG, Miss.-- UTSA scored six-straight points over the final 47 seconds of the first half, and it proved to be the difference in a 78-72 decision Saturday afternoon in the Convocation Center.

The home team has won all 14 games in the series, split evenly.

"I'm heartbroken after these two tough ones," head coach Jay Ladner said. "UTSA has a very good team. What was critical for us is not allowing other players, besides Jhivvan Jackson and Keaton Wallace, to be bigger factors on the game. We held them to 39 percent shooting, which can usually get you a win. We were near 50-percent on our end and still missed a few bunnies. Their ability to get to the offensive glass and to have only eight turnovers to our 14 were basically the difference in the game."

LaDavius Draine led the way with 19 points, including five treys, his most in a C-USA game this year. Tyler Stevenson also recorded his second-straight double-double with 15 points and 10 rebounds.

Southern Miss (7-8, 3-5 C-USA) trailed by 11 with 5:47 left in the half before Draine tied it with 1:14 left on a three-pointer that followed a UTSA turnover. The Roadrunners responded with a pull-up trey of its own, followed by a buzzer-beater to lead 42-36 at the break.

UTSA (7-8, 3-5 C-USA) reeled off seven-straight points to go up 67-52 at 8:48, but the Golden Eagles made seven of eight free-throws to trim the deficit to 72-67 at 2:29. Draine's three-pointer to get within 74-70 and 16 seconds remaining was still too much to overcome, despite UTSA having no field goals for the final 5:17.

The Roadrunners attempted 20 more shots than the visitors and went 13-for-34 from deep, led by Jackson's 24 points.

Southern Miss returns to action Thursday to host Louisiana Tech at 6 p.m. on CBS Sports Network.

NOTABLE
-Tyler Stevenson had 23 points and 10 boards Friday night, making him the first Golden Eagle with back-to-back double-doubles since Leonard Harper-Baker (Feb. 22 - March 1, 2020).
-Stevenson now has three on the year and seven for his career.
-LaDavius Draine now has 1,076 points for his career, passing Roy Danforth (1958-62) for No. 34 at the school. He is two points shy of Gary Flowers (2009-11) for the next spot.
-Southern Miss went 20-for-26 (76.9 percent) from the foul line, tying the Jan. 1 UTEP game for most makes on the year.
-The team went 32-for-40 (80 percent) on the weekend.