The Southern Miss men’s basketball team improved to 6-2 on the season following a 106-46 home win over Rust College on Sunday afternoon. The Golden Eagles are now on a two-game winning streak since the team’s loss to William Carey on Nov. 25.
“I was really happy [in] the first half that we only turned the basketball over three times,” Southern Miss Head Coach Doc Sadler said. “Overall we shot the ball like we’d been shooting it before, so hopefully that will carry over.”
In the first half, the two teams traded three-point shots to start the game. However, Southern Miss went on a 51-15 run after that to head into the halftime break with a 54-18 advantage over the Bearcats.
Redshirt senior guard Dominic Magee led the team by going 4-for-4 from the three-point line in the first half, resulting in a team-high 12 points. Senior Cortez Edwards had seven points and six total rebounds in the half.
After halftime, Southern Miss continued to expand on its large lead. Rust did not crack the 30-point mark until a made three-point shot with 9:53 left to play cut Southern Miss’ lead to 78-31. The Golden Eagles outscored Rust 28-15 the rest of the way to come away with the win.
The 106 points scored by Southern Miss marks the second time the team has eclipsed the 100-point mark this season. The Golden Eagles scored 111 points in the season opener against Southeastern Baptist.
Five Southern Miss players reached double-figures in points during the game. Magee finished the game with a team-high 14 points. Magee was followed by redshirt senior Tyree Griffin with 13 points. Freshman Tyler Stevenson was a perfect 6-of-6 from the field and scored 12 points in 15 minutes of play.
Freshman Ladarius Marshall and sophomore LaDavius Draine also had 10 points each on the afternoon.
Southern Miss also grabbed 38 defensive rebounds against Rust and forced 19 turnovers. Redshirt junior forward Tim Rowe grabbed seven of those defensive rebounds and had eight in total for the game.
Following an eight-day break, Southern Miss will return to the court at Reed Green Coliseum on Dec. 11 to take on Millsaps College. Tip-off is set for 4 p.m.
