HATTIESBURG, Miss. – Despite 16 points and 11 rebounds from Denijay Harris, Southern Miss (9-13, 4-6 Sun Belt) suffered a rare loss at Reed Green Coliseum on Wednesday night, falling 81-67 to Arkansas State (17-5, 8-2 Sun Belt).
Denijay Harris and DeAntoni Gordon each picked up double-doubles, with Gordon finishing with 22 points and 10 boards. It was Gordon’s first double-double and second 20-point game of the season.
Christian Watson joined Gordon and Harris in double figures with 10 points. The Golden Eagles only turned the ball over two times in the first half but finished the game with 14 turnovers after having six in the first eight minutes of the second half.
The Golden Eagles held Arkansas State well below its season average of 9.3 three-pointers per contest with six tonight. On the other side, the Red Wolves limited the Golden Eagles to six three-pointers. Cobie Montgomery extended his streak of made three-pointers to 18 games, which dates to Nov. 24 at Montana State.
Neftali Alvarez added nine points on four-for-seven shooting from the field – Alvarez finished with one of Southern Miss’ six three-pointers. John Wade III made his Reed Green Coliseum debut en route to a five-point night off the bench.
Southern Miss has one game left in Hattiesburg before embarking on a four-game road trip next week. The Golden Eagles will welcome Georgia Southern to town on Saturday for a 3:30 p.m. tip.
How it Happened
DeAntoni Gordon sparked the Golden Eagle offense in the first minutes of the game as he scored six of their first 10 points. With it feeling like ages since Southern Miss played at Reed Green Coliseum, the fans got a warm welcome back as Gordon slammed home a dunk for his second basket of the game.
Neftali Alvarez gave Southern Miss a 6-4 lead after Gordon’s first four points – Southern Miss wouldn’t trail for the remainder of the half. Alvarez’s basket started a 6-0 run for Southern Miss and gave it an early six-point lead to set the tone.
Arkansas State kept the Golden Eagles at arm’s length the next eight minutes and nearly regained the lead after Terrance Ford Jr. scored five-straight points himself to get within one. Alvarez, though, drained a deep three-pointer to swing the momentum back to Southern Miss.
The Golden Eagles continued to build their lead and led by as many as eight late in the half. Alvarez gave Southern Miss another eight-point lead with 2:02 left in the first half. However, the Red Wolves hit a pair of three-pointers in the final 90 seconds to make it a four-point game in favor of Southern Miss at the half.
Alvarez had a clutch block on Arkansas State’s final possession of the first half. Gordon finished with 14 points and eight rebounds in the first 20 minutes of action. Despite going on a 1-for-11 shooting streak in the half, Southern Miss still shot 45.5 percent from the floor.
The second half picked up with Christian Watson knocking down back-to-back shots to extend Southern Miss’ lead to seven. That was the last time the Golden Eagles had control. Arkansas State used a Kobie Julien to start a 26-2 run over an eight-minute span. A Gordon jumper stopped the run, but the Red Wolves had already opened a 65-48 lead with 10:16 to play.
Southern Miss tried to mount a comeback as it got within nine three different times. Each time, though, Arkansas State had an answer. Harris converted three consecutive free throws to make it 74-65 with 2:37 to play. However, Joseph Pinion hit his third triple of the night to ice the ballgame.
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