MOBILE, Ala. --- Southern Miss’s Gary Flowers led all players with 18 points and 11 rebounds to lead the Golden Eagles to a 66-54 victory over the University of South Alabama Saturday night at the Mitchell Center.

South Alabama (7-3) has its four-game winning streak snapped while Southern Miss (6-1) rebounds from its only loss of the season.

Flowers had 14 points and seven rebounds in the second half alone. He added two assists and four blocks and shot 9-for-13 from the floor.

“The bottom line is they did a really good job tonight,” said USA head coach Ronnie Arrow. “We couldn’t stop Gary Flowers. He hurt us on the boards and shooting. He backed us down and he shot over us. We didn’t shoot the ball at all, but they had a lot to do with that. They took it right to us. We played immaturely tonight, and that’s just the way that it is. Hopefully, we’ll grow from it.”

Thanks in part to senior Bryan Sherrer (Monticello, Ark.) and sophomore Allyn Cooks (Bryan, Texas), who scored the team’s first 11 points, the Jaguars led 18-11 at the 11:44 mark. But a 3-pointer by Buchi Awaji on USM’s next possession started a 15-0 run as the Golden Eagles held the Jags scoreless for a stretch of 4:56.

After two Sherrer free throws and a lay-up by Kenneth Ortiz, USA answered with a 7-0 rally to cut the margin to one and the Eagles led by two at the half.

Southern Miss maintained a minimal lead – as little as two and as many as seven – throughout the first 10 minutes of the second half. Back-to-back lay-ups from Flowers and then an old-fashioned three-point play by Awaji put USM on top 11 at the 6:41 mark.

Two free throws from freshman Martino Brock (Memphis, Tenn.) cut the deficit to nine, but Johnson answered with a lay-up and was fouled. He missed the free throw but Torye Pelham grabbed the rebound and Johnson hit a back-breaking 3-pointer for a 61-47 advantage with 4:53 left in the game.

South Alabama never got within 10 the rest of the way.

“We held them in check the first half when we were down two or three points,” said Arrow. “Then at the start of the second half, they got three or four offensive rebounds. They kicked our butts. We had too many guys that sat back and didn’t do enough to help us come out of it.”

Johnson had 16 points and a team-high four assists. Awaji came off the bench to tally 13 points and five steals.

Cooks paced the USA offense with 13 points on three 3-pointers. Junior Tim Williams (Pontiac, Mich.) just missed a double-double with 10 points and nine rebounds, and tied his career mark of five assists. He left the game with 5:57 to play with an ankle injury.

The Jaguars shot season lows of 29.1% from the floor and 24.0% in the second half, and their 54 points were the fewest in a game this season.

“It seemed like we always had the wrong guy shooting the ball,” said Arrow. “We didn’t attack the zone very well, and that’s my fault. We just didn’t get our guys ready for a zone. We worked on it, but evidently I did a poor job of getting them to understand exactly what had to be done.”

South Alabama returns to the court Wednesday hosting UALR at 8:05 p.m. The game will be televised live by ESPN2.

For more information about South Alabama athletics, check back with www.usajaguars.com.  Season tickets for all Jaguar athletic events can be purchased by calling (251) 461-1USA (1872).

NOTES: South Alabama went without a field goal for 6:24 in the first half during Southern Miss’s 15-0 run… Senior Charles Tabet (Bloomfield Hills, Mich.) set a new career high with four blocks and has 10 in his last three games… USA set new season highs with eight 3-pointers and 27 attempts… The loss is the Jags’ first at home (4-1)… USM committed just 13 turnovers, the fewest by a USA opponent this season… The Jaguars went 14-for-16 at the free throw line… The Eagles won the battle of the boards 42-36.

—USA—