Golden Eagles Top Georgia Southern in the Battle of the Eagles

Saturday, February 1

Hattiesburg, Miss.

3:30 PM

Southern Miss

10-13,5-6Sun Belt

Georgia Southern

11-12,4-7Sun Belt

Ga. Southern

Southern Miss.

Golden Eagles Top Georgia Southern in the Battle of the Eagles

2/1/2025 6:56:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score Georgia Southern Game Book

HATTIESBURG, Miss. – In a battle of the Eagles on Saturday at Reed Green Coliseum, Southern Miss (10-13, 5-6 Sun Belt) escaped with a 72-68 win over Georgia Southern (11-12, 4-7 Sun Belt).

The Golden Eagles moved to 35-5 at The Greenhouse since the start of the 2022-23 season. With Andre Curbelo earning his first start in eight games, the senior guard had a sizable impact on the box score. Curbelo finished with 12 points, seven rebounds, seven assists and four steals.

Denijay Harris led the Golden Eagles in scoring with 19 points and Neftali Alvarez added 13 points. DeAntoni Gordon, who scored 22 points against Arkansas State Wednesday night, had 11 points and eight rebounds – the eight rebounds led the Golden Eagles.

Cobie Montgomery went one-for-three from deep to extend his made three-pointer streak to 19 consecutive games. As a team, Southern Miss finished with only three triples on the night. Meanwhile, Georgia Southern finished with 13 three-pointers with six of them coming from Adante' Holiman.

The Golden Eagles forced 17 turnovers for the second time in their last three games. They also had 10+ steals for the fifth time this season and then had seven blocks on the defensive end as well.

Southern Miss will embark on a four-game road trip on Monday with stops at App State, Ball State, Arkansas State and ULM. Wednesday's game in Boone, N.C. is slated for 5:30 pm. CST.

How it Happened
Georgia Southern, who lives and dies by the three-pointer, opened the ballgame with a triple from Nate Brafford. Southern Miss then took nearly four minutes to score its first field goal. Once that field goal fell, though, the Golden Eagles went on a 19-2 run to blow the game open at the 11:33 mark.

Trailing by 12, the Eagles drained back-to-back three-pointers to creep back into the game. Then, Neftali Alvarez scored his sixth points of the game and Cobie Montgomery drilled a trey to regain an 11-point advantage.

Southern Miss continued to score at a high rate in the opening 20 minutes and strung together a couple of mini runs to lead by as many as 15 with a minute left in the first half. While Georgia Southern didn't make a field goal for the final 3:28 of the half, it did make a pair of free throws to make it 36-23 at the break.

Southern Miss held Georgia Southern to a 23.5 percent shooting clip in the first 20 minutes and limited the Eagles to only four three-pointers. Georgia Southern was averaging nine three-pointers a game heading into the day.

The second half showed shades of past games for the Golden Eagles. They went into half in command but fell into a downward trend in the second half. The only difference today was that they held on to win the game.

Southern Miss was in control for much of the second half and led by 18 after DeAntoni Gordon made a free throw. Christian Reid scored after that to answer an Eagle basket, but then Georgia Southern started to flip a switch.

The Eagles went on a 9-0 run over two minutes and made it 53-45 with 8:25 to play. Southern Miss answered and clung to a double-digit lead for the next four minutes. Alvarez scored with 4:46 left to make it 62-50. However, that was Southern Miss' last made field goal of the game.

Georgia Southern made five of its nine second half three-pointers over the final minutes of the game to spark its late surge. Antante' Holiman hit three-straight treys for the Eagles and started a 10-2 run to pull within three of Southern Miss. The Golden Eagles made six free throws in the final 60 seconds to hold of the Eagles' comeback hopes.

Digging into the Numbers
- Southern Miss held Georgia Southern to a 37.5 shooting percentage as the Eagles were 42.4 percent heading into the game
- The Golden Eagles are now 8-3 when they shoot above 45 percent for the game
- Southern Miss outrebounded Georgia Southern 40-35 and moved to 9-7 when it finishes with more boards
- Four Golden Eagles scored 10+ points and four had at least six rebounds

Nuggets and Notes
- Southern Miss starters against Arkansas State: #1 DeAntoni Gordon, #7 Christian Watson, #11 Andre Curbelo, #12 Neftali Alvarez, #13 Denijay Harris
- Southern Miss had 10+ steals for the fifth time this season. It last had 10 at Texas State on Jan. 11, 2025
- Georgia Southern committed 17 turnovers. It was the fourth opponent to turn the ball over at least 17 times against the Golden Eagles and the second in the last three games
- Southern Miss is now 35-5 at Reed Green Coliseum since the start of the 2022-23 season
- Southern Miss is 8-3 when it shoots above 45 percent after shooting 45.6 percent from the floor against Georgia Southern
- Andre Curbelo made his first start for the Golden Eagles since Jan. 4 at ODU
- Curbelo finished with 12 points, seven rebounds, seven assists and four steals
- Curbelo recorded at least five assists for the seventh time this season. It's the 41^st time in his career he's dished out five-plus assists
- Cobie Montgomery has made a three-pointer in 19 consecutive games after going one-for-three today
- Denijay Harris finished with 10+ points for the 19^th time this season and the 37^th time in his career