University of Southern Mississippi Athletics
Saturday, January 30
Ruston, LA
2 p.m.
Southern Miss
62
at
65
Louisiana Tech
Southern Miss Drops Heartbreaker at LA Tech, 65-62
1/30/2021 5:06:00 PM | Men's Basketball
RUSTON, La. -- Southern Miss came within inches of a four-point comeback in the final minute, ultimately falling 65-62 at Louisiana Tech on Saturday afternoon.
Tae Hardy's driving layup and three-point play with 44 seconds left off a Bulldog pass out-of-bounds pulled the Golden Eagles within 63-62. After LA Tech air-balled a three late in the shot clock, Hardy again took it to the rim with contact, but LA Tech was able to escape with the rebound and two subsequent free-throws in the final seconds. Jaron Pierre Jr.'s half-court try hit the side of the rim.
"It was a tough way to lose," head coach Jay Ladner said. "Louisiana Tech has a very good team. We certainly gave a winning effort, and I'm sick for our players. I thought late in the game, being down one, we had the ball down at the rim. I'm simply sick for them that we couldn't finish it."
Southern Miss took its first lead of the day on a 10-0 run over 2:01, prompting a LA Tech timeout at 16:20 and a 44-37 margin. The Bulldogs answered on a 9-2 run through a Golden Eagle timeout at 12:06.
Until Hardy's big shot in the final minute, the Golden Eagles had gone nine minutes without a field goal, shooting just 35.5 percent in the half after 48.1 percent in the first, but still pushed LA Tech to the brink on arguably the league's toughest home floor. Southern Miss had even rallied to tie it in the first half after trailing 17-7, but the Bulldogs took a 32-30 lead into the break.
"One thing that hurt us in Hattiesburg is that we did such a poor job at transition defense," Ladner said. "LA Tech has a very quick and talented team. We forced them against our half-court defense, which has been one of our strengths all year. The problem we have is that we are smaller and got into foul trouble. We missed some key free-throws and open threes, and if we had just buried one of those we'd have a chance. We were razor-close to pulling it off here."
Southern Miss will go on the road again next weekend, taking on Rice Friday and Saturday in Houston.
NOTABLE
-Southern Miss held LA Tech to 6-of-22 shooting from beyond the arc (27.3 percent), the fifth time in 10 C-USA games it's held its opponent to under 30 percent.
-Justin Johnson had his best game as a Golden Eagle, notching a career-high 14 points on 5-of-8 shooting. He also had no turnovers in his 27 minutes.
-Tyler Stevenson's 20 points gave him eight-such outings for his career (four on the season).
Tae Hardy's driving layup and three-point play with 44 seconds left off a Bulldog pass out-of-bounds pulled the Golden Eagles within 63-62. After LA Tech air-balled a three late in the shot clock, Hardy again took it to the rim with contact, but LA Tech was able to escape with the rebound and two subsequent free-throws in the final seconds. Jaron Pierre Jr.'s half-court try hit the side of the rim.
"It was a tough way to lose," head coach Jay Ladner said. "Louisiana Tech has a very good team. We certainly gave a winning effort, and I'm sick for our players. I thought late in the game, being down one, we had the ball down at the rim. I'm simply sick for them that we couldn't finish it."
Southern Miss took its first lead of the day on a 10-0 run over 2:01, prompting a LA Tech timeout at 16:20 and a 44-37 margin. The Bulldogs answered on a 9-2 run through a Golden Eagle timeout at 12:06.
Until Hardy's big shot in the final minute, the Golden Eagles had gone nine minutes without a field goal, shooting just 35.5 percent in the half after 48.1 percent in the first, but still pushed LA Tech to the brink on arguably the league's toughest home floor. Southern Miss had even rallied to tie it in the first half after trailing 17-7, but the Bulldogs took a 32-30 lead into the break.
"One thing that hurt us in Hattiesburg is that we did such a poor job at transition defense," Ladner said. "LA Tech has a very quick and talented team. We forced them against our half-court defense, which has been one of our strengths all year. The problem we have is that we are smaller and got into foul trouble. We missed some key free-throws and open threes, and if we had just buried one of those we'd have a chance. We were razor-close to pulling it off here."
Southern Miss will go on the road again next weekend, taking on Rice Friday and Saturday in Houston.
NOTABLE
-Southern Miss held LA Tech to 6-of-22 shooting from beyond the arc (27.3 percent), the fifth time in 10 C-USA games it's held its opponent to under 30 percent.
-Justin Johnson had his best game as a Golden Eagle, notching a career-high 14 points on 5-of-8 shooting. He also had no turnovers in his 27 minutes.
-Tyler Stevenson's 20 points gave him eight-such outings for his career (four on the season).
Players Mentioned
G/F
/ Men's Basketball
F
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