Saturday, February 18
Reed Green Coliseum
12 PM
Southern Miss
24-5,13-3Sun Belt
73
vs
62
Georgia Southern
14-15,7-9Sun Belt
1
2
F
Ga. Southern
29
33
62
Southern Miss.
35
38
73
Photo by: Joe Harper/bgnphoto.com
Men's Basketball Clinches Perfect Home Record After Dismantling Georgia Southern
2/18/2023 3:17:00 PM | Men's Basketball
HATTIESBURG, Miss. – Neftali Alvarez poured in a game-high 19 points as the Southern Miss men's basketball team beat Georgia Southern (14-15, 7-9 SBC) 73-62 on Senior Day. The Golden Eagles (24-5, 13-3 SBC) finished the home slate of games 15-0 to tie the 2011-12 team for the most home wins in program history.
The Golden Eagles also dominated on the boards as they recorded 48 rebounds, the most since grabbing 49 at Jacksonville on Nov. 28, 2020. Denijay Harris led the charge on the glass with a career-high 14 rebounds and had nine in the first half.
Georgia Southern took a one-point lead on an Andrei Savrosov three-pointer with 4:18 left in the first half to silence the 4,888 in attendance at Reed Green Coliseum. Thankfully for the Golden Eagle faithful, that didn't last long as Alvarez made a layup with 3:37 left that sparked a 7-0 run that put Southern Miss ahead by six at the half.
Alvarez's bucket that started the run also gave Southern Miss the lead for good. Felipe Haase fed DeAndre Pinckney a dime out of halftime that sparked Southern Miss out of the gate. The lead grew to 12 after Haase drained a pair of free throws before the under-12 media timeout.
Chaos ensued minutes later as Harris and Johnny McFatten got tangled up under the basket that resulted in both benches start to clear. It was the second technical foul for the Eagles as their head coach received one earlier in the game.
Donovan Ivory took the momentum to another level when he finished a circus-like layup under the basket to give Southern Miss a 15-point lead with 7:20 left in the game. The Eagles, though, managed to cut the Golden Eagle lead to eight with 1:31 left.
With Georgia Southern creeping back, Pinckney took an outlet pass from Alvarez and threw down a massive dunk that ended up being the dagger. Alvarez added another dagger with 12 seconds when he drained a three-pointer from downtown Hattiesburg.
That three-pointer gave Alvarez five on the day, which was a career-high for made triples. Pinckney added another 12 points and Haase 13. Southern Miss shot 45.9 percent from the floor on the day and held Georgia Southern to a 36.9 clip.
Haase's seven assists tied his career best that he set against Samford last season at Mercer. Austin Crowley finished with nine points and 3-of-7 from three-point last.
Southern Miss' 24 regular seasons are tied for the most in program history. The Golden Eagles can break that mark with two games remaining next week.
Up Next
Southern Miss will finish the regular season at Old Dominion and Texas State next week. It opens at Old Dominion on Wednesday, Feb. 23 and then will head to Texas State on Friday, Feb. 25.
The Golden Eagles also dominated on the boards as they recorded 48 rebounds, the most since grabbing 49 at Jacksonville on Nov. 28, 2020. Denijay Harris led the charge on the glass with a career-high 14 rebounds and had nine in the first half.
Georgia Southern took a one-point lead on an Andrei Savrosov three-pointer with 4:18 left in the first half to silence the 4,888 in attendance at Reed Green Coliseum. Thankfully for the Golden Eagle faithful, that didn't last long as Alvarez made a layup with 3:37 left that sparked a 7-0 run that put Southern Miss ahead by six at the half.
Alvarez's bucket that started the run also gave Southern Miss the lead for good. Felipe Haase fed DeAndre Pinckney a dime out of halftime that sparked Southern Miss out of the gate. The lead grew to 12 after Haase drained a pair of free throws before the under-12 media timeout.
Chaos ensued minutes later as Harris and Johnny McFatten got tangled up under the basket that resulted in both benches start to clear. It was the second technical foul for the Eagles as their head coach received one earlier in the game.
Donovan Ivory took the momentum to another level when he finished a circus-like layup under the basket to give Southern Miss a 15-point lead with 7:20 left in the game. The Eagles, though, managed to cut the Golden Eagle lead to eight with 1:31 left.
With Georgia Southern creeping back, Pinckney took an outlet pass from Alvarez and threw down a massive dunk that ended up being the dagger. Alvarez added another dagger with 12 seconds when he drained a three-pointer from downtown Hattiesburg.
That three-pointer gave Alvarez five on the day, which was a career-high for made triples. Pinckney added another 12 points and Haase 13. Southern Miss shot 45.9 percent from the floor on the day and held Georgia Southern to a 36.9 clip.
Haase's seven assists tied his career best that he set against Samford last season at Mercer. Austin Crowley finished with nine points and 3-of-7 from three-point last.
Southern Miss' 24 regular seasons are tied for the most in program history. The Golden Eagles can break that mark with two games remaining next week.
Up Next
Southern Miss will finish the regular season at Old Dominion and Texas State next week. It opens at Old Dominion on Wednesday, Feb. 23 and then will head to Texas State on Friday, Feb. 25.
Team Stats
GS
USM
FG%
.369
.459
3FG%
.273
.429
FT%
.615
.471
RB
35
48
TO
13
15
STL
12
10
Game Leaders
Scoring
Pts
19
FGM
7
3FGM
5
FTM
0
Pts
13
FGM
5
3FGM
1
FTM
2
Pts
12
FGM
5
3FGM
0
FTM
2
Pts
9
FGM
3
3FGM
3
FTM
0
Players Mentioned
G
/ Men's BasketballG
/ Men's BasketballF
/ Men's Basketball
F
/ Men's Basketball
G
/ Men's BasketballF
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