MOBILE, Ala. – South Alabama men's basketball got back in the win column with a dominant 75-62 win over highway 98 rival Southern Miss Wednesday night in the Mitchell Center. The Jags rebounded from their first conference loss and improved to 13-5 overall and 5-1 in Sun Belt play. USM dropped to 8-10 on the season and 3-3 in conference play.
Southern Miss had a solid opening to the game as South Alabama missed five straight shots at one point, but the Jags would lock down as nine out of 10 active players logged points in the game, and they held USM to 33 percent shooting from the field and 23.3 percent from three-point range to lift themselves to victory.
Dylan Fasoyiro was lights out throughout the night, scoring a game-high 17 points with four three-pointers. Barry Dunning tallied his 12th straight contest with double figures as he finished with 12 points, seven rebounds, and three assists. Judah Brown scored 11 points, knocking down two three-pointers, and a perfect 5-for-5 from the free throw line.
Myles Corey and JJ Wheat finished with eight points a piece, and Randy Brady returned from an injury for the first time in two weeks and logged seven points, four assists, three rebounds, and two steals.
"Felt good to have my guys back," said head coach Richie Riley. " Saturday we talked about it because that wasn't who we are. Our guys have a high level of maturity, care, and big hearts they were frustrated with how we played and didn't show up in Saturday's game. When we are us it allows us to shoot 36 percent from the field and still have a chance to win because our defense was very good. My challenge for these guys is to be who they are, and when they're who they are, they deserve to win them all."
The Golden Eagles opened the game strong, hitting back-to-back three-pointers on their first two possessions, and led 10-8 at the under-16-minute media timeout. The Jaguars missed five three-pointers in a row until Brown, Elijah Ormiston, and Jayden Cooper knocked down triples to open up a 22-15 at the 9:39 mark.
South Alabama stayed the course and went to the rim with force, drawing and knocking down 13 free throws and eight points in the paint to hold a 42-33 advantage at halftime.
Fasoyiro came out of the half firing and knocked down three three-pointers in the first seven minutes of the second half to extend the Jags lead to 58-37 with 13:19 remaining in the contest.
Southern Miss did not give in and blazed out on a 14-3 run to trim the advantage to 66-55 at the 4:37 mark in the second half, but John Broom would put the nail in the coffin with a deep three-pointer with a minute left to put the game out of reach.
Notes
- The Jags have won eight of their last nine games over the Golden Eagles, including five in a row.
- South made 14 three-pointers and knocked down 19-of-21 (90.5%) free throws.
- Fasoyiro logged his 1000 collegiate point in tonight's game (USA: 120 Daemen: 857 Ashland: 23)
- Brown hit two three-pointers in tonight's game for the 14th time this season, and the Jags are 11-3 in those contests.
- South Alabama is 11-5 this season when limiting opponents to under 40 percent shooting from the field.
Up Next
South Alabama will host arch-rival Troy in the final game of a four-game homestand on Saturday, Jan.18 at 3 p.m. CT
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