Pinckney's Career Night Helps Southern Miss Past ULM

Saturday, January 7

Monroe, LA

2 PM

Southern Miss

14-3,3-1Sun Belt

ULM

7-10,3-1Sun Belt

Southern Miss.

ULM

Photo by: Joe Harper/bgnphoto.com

Pinckney's Career Night Helps Southern Miss Past ULM

1/7/2023 5:33:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score Game Book

MONROE, La. – Behind DeAndre Pinckney's career-high 24 points, the Southern Miss men's basketball team escaped Monroe with a 65-60 win over ULM (7-10, 3-1 SBC). The win moved the Golden Eagles (14-3, 3-1 SBC) back into prime position in the Sun Belt standings before a daunting road trip next week.

The Warhawks couldn't have asked for a better start as they connected on eight of their first nine shots to jump to an 11-point advantage. Four of those baskets were three-pointers that deflated a Southern Miss defense that was pressuring at an elite level.

The Juan Cardona coached defense finally broke through at the 13:40 mark of the first half. ULM went on to miss its next 12 shot attempts over a seven-minute span that Southern Miss used to climb back into the ballgame.

A layup from Felipe Haase ignited a 12-2 run that cut the ULM lead to one. Tyreke Locure answered with a cold-blooded three-pointer, but Austin Crowley and Donovan Ivory had other plans. Crowley laid home a contested layup to make it a two-point game, then Ivory drained a three-pointer to give Southern Miss a 29-28 lead – it was the first of the night. Crowley pushed it to four before Jamari Blackmon nailed a triple to make it a one-point game heading into the break.

ULM went 3-of-19 from the floor to finish that half and was outscored 18-8 after going up 11. Meanwhile, Southern Miss shot 41.9 (13-of-31) percent over the opening 20 minutes. Pinckney and Crowley paced the Golden Eagle offense in the first half with nine points each.

Southern Miss started the second half on a 7-2 run that saw Pinkcney account for a pair of free throws and a three-pointer. The Warhawks figured out how to answer the Golden Eagles and used a flurry of points in under a minute to tie the game at 41-41 with 13:27 left.

Crowley answered with back-to-back three-pointers as the junior guard finished his night with 21 points. Then a Jeffery Armstrong layup pushed it to seven again until a 7-0 ULM run flipped the scoring advantage back to the home team.

The Warhawks went up one point with 6:29 to go, but Pinckney took over down the stretch to thwart any chance of a comeback. The Golden Eagle veteran scored 10 their final 12 points, including five crucial free throws. Crowley iced the game with a pair of free throws to put Southern Miss ahead by five with five seconds left.

A ULM heave fell short at the final buzzer to grant the Golden Eagles to third Sun Belt Conference win and hand ULM its first Sun Belt loss. The win moved Southern Miss to 14-3 overall before it embarks on that daunting road trip to Marshall and Arkansas State next week.

Pinckney grabbed 11 rebounds to go along with his 24 points to record his fifth double-double this season and his second in as many games. Him and Crowley are the first Golden Eagle teammates to each have 20-point nights since Crowley and Haase did so at Liberty.

The Golden Eagles finished with a 36.7 shooting percentage compared to ULM's 39.7 percent clip from the floor. The Black and Gold also knocked down nine three-pointers, while Pinckney had four of them.

Ivory added seven points off the bench and Haase dished out six assists in the win. Armstrong, who started for the first time this season, finished with five points on 2-of-2 shooting from the floor. Locure paced ULM with 21 points and Blackmon added 17.

Up Next
Marshall will entertain Southern Miss on Thursday, Jan. 12 at 8 p.m. CST on ESPN2.