PENSACOLA, Fla. – Southern Miss (11-22, 5-13 Sun Belt) had its season come to an end on Wednesday night as it lost 78-64 to Georgia Southern (17-15, 8-10 Sun Belt) at the Sun Belt Championships.
The Golden Eagles ended the season with Denijay Harris leading the team in scoring for the 15th time – he finished with 14 points after going 6-for-11 from the field. Harris ended his collegiate career with 956 points.
Georgia Southern shot 70 percent from the floor in the second half en route to shooting 52.5 percent for the game. Meanwhile, Southern Miss was held to a 38.1 percent shooting clip.
Christian Watson scored in double figures with 11 points after making a career-high three three-pointers. Alfred Worrell Jr. scored 12 points after going for a career-high 22 in the first round win against Coastal Carolina.
How it Happened
A day after scoring a career high, Alfred Worrell Jr. started off with a bang as he gave Southern Miss a 5-2 lead with a three-pointer. The Golden Eagles shot 50 percent over the first five minutes of action, while Denijay Harris had a quick four points.
Georgia Southern took advantage of a Golden Eagle scoring drought that gave the Eagles an eight-point lead at the halfway mark of the first half. Southern Miss’ scoring drought lasted 6 minutes after DeAntoni Gordon broke the dry spell with a pair of free throws to make it 17-11.
Jose Benitz gave Southern Miss its first field in nearly eight minutes as he forced a turnover and converted it on the other end. Then, Worrell Jr. stole a pass for a quick layup to trim the Eagles’ lead to 19-15 with 6:36 left in the half.
Georgia Southern punched back to the quick momentum change with a Bradley Douglas dunk and Eugene Brown III three-pointer. The Eagles then took a nine-point lead into the break after Douglas drained a three-pointer with under a minute left in the half.
The Eagles opened the second half with a force as they went on a 12-2 run to pull ahead by 19 just over four minutes into the half. A Gordon jumper broke a four-minute scoreless streak and gave a quick burst of energy to the Southern Miss side, but Georgia Southern answered right back to silence the Golden Eagle faithful.
Southern Miss chipped it down to a 12-point game with a 7-0 run that saw Watson make a corner trey. The Golden Eagles then went through a three-minute scoring drought that led Georgia Southern to open its lead back to 18.
Southern Miss cut it back to 13 after a string of defensive stops en route to a 7-2 run in under a minute – that made it 66-53 at the final media timeout. However, Georgia Southern ended the game making nine of its last 10 shots.
Nuggets and Notes
– Southern Miss’ first points were scored by Denijay Harris
– Denijay Harris reached double figures in scoring for the 28th time this season and for the 13th consecutive game
-Harris finished the season with 17 double-doubles, tied for fifth nationally.
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