Second half run helps lift Southern Miss to win over McNeese

HATTIESBURG, Miss. – Southern Miss outscored McNeese 35-20 over the last 14:21 in the second half of Sunday’s men’s basketball game as the Eagles posted an 86-67 win over the Cowboys.

USM (11-1) opened up the game with a 10-0 run but McNeese (3-9) battled back and cut the deficit to one point a couple of times and trailed just 34-33 with 1:17 to play in the first half before the Eagles scored five straight to end the half and take a 42-35 lead into the break.

In the second half, Southern Miss led 10 at 51-41 with 15:19 to play when McNeese’s Trae English and Zach Scott sank back-to-back threes to pull the Cowboys to within 51-47 with 14:21 to play. USM responded with a 9-0 run to build a 60-47 lead at the 12:20 mark and after the Cowboys battled back to cut the margin to 64-56 following a Christian Shumate 3 with 9:10 remaining, the Eagles scored 12 straight over the next two-and-a-half minutes to build a 20-point lead at 76-56 and was able to keep the Cowboys from clawing back into the game.

Individual Stats:
• Zach Scott led the Cowboys with 21 points, his first 20-point game of the season while Trae English added 14 points.
• Scott sank 4 of 7 from three-point range, tying for the most 3 of the season for the senior (4-7 at Baylor).
• English’s 14 points comes one game after scoring 24 against ULL as he averaged 19 points for the week.
• Ty McMillan had his best statistical game as a Cowboy on Sunday, scoring 8 points with 9 rebounds.
• McMillan’s nine rebounds is a career-high while his 8 points scored matches a career-best of several other 8-point games he had while a member of the Georgia team.
• Christian Shumate led the Cowboys with 9 rebounds.
• Southern Miss had five players score in double-figures, led by a 19-point outing from season leading scorer Felipe Haase.

Team Stats:
• McNeese shot 38 percent for the game (23-60), 33 percent from 3-point range (8-24) and 72 percent at the free throw line (13-18).
• USM hit 46 percent of its total shots (30-66), 44 percent from 3FG range (14-32) and 71 percent at the line (12-17).
• The Eagles held a 43-35 advantage in rebounds including a 13-9 lead on the offensive glass.
• McNeese turned the ball over 15 times to USM’s 14 and scored 11 points off turnovers with the Eagles scored 21 points off turnovers.

Next Up:
• McNeese will visit 4th-ranked Houston at 7 p.m. on Wednesday in the final non-conference game of the season.