Southern Miss head coach Jay Ladner said his team played well for 37 minutes on Saturday, and fortunately for the Golden Eagles, Texas State could not muster up enough points during the other eight minutes to leave Hattiesburg with a win in overtime.
The Golden Eagles may have been bought out by the Bobcats’ inefficiency late in the 92-88 win, at least if you ask Ladner, but their first-half performance is what ultimately propelled them to victory. Southern Miss outscored Texas State 45-30 during the opening period of play before allowing the Sun Belt foe to climb back into the game late.
Here’s a quick recap of what happened.
Scoring summary
Southern Miss guards Alfred Worrell, Jr. and Cobie Montgomery combined for seven three-point baskets in the first half to help the Golden Eagles explode for one of their largest halftime leads of the season. At one point, Ladner’s group was up by 20 points, but Texas State was able to whittle the deficit before intermission.
Momentum began to diminish in the second half as the Bobcats began on a 6-0 run to bring it within nine. While Southern Miss did manage to go up again by 14, the final five minutes of play was all Texas State with Mississippi native Mark Drone leading the way.
A 12-0 run was ignited by a Drone jumper and ended with two free throws from the Lanier High School alum for Texas State to go up 76-75 with less than a minute to play.
Southern Miss then tied the game with a Denijay Harris free throw and had a chance to win it at the end of regulation. Andre Curbelo pickpocketed Drone and took the ball all the way to the hoop but missed what would have been a game-winning layup, sending the contest into overtime.
In overtime, Texas State went up 81-78 before back-to-back baskets by Harris and Neftali Alvarez put the Golden Eagles up 82-81. Southern Miss never allowed the Bobcats to retake the lead and would go on to win 92-88.
What the coach said
Ladner showed a range of emotions after the overtime thriller, telling reporters that two different Southern Miss teams were on display during the game. After outscoring Texas State 45-30 in the first half, the Golden Eagles were outscored 46-31 in the second half.
“I thought we did a really good job for 37 minutes, played well, and some mistakes flipped the game around,” Ladner said. “I thought our guys showed composure and made some outstanding defensive plays at the end of the game. We have an experienced group that made some big shots in overtime.”
Numbers never lie
- Southern Miss dominated second-chance opportunities by grabbing 21 offensive rebounds – the most in a game this season.
- The 92-88 win over Texas State was Southern Miss’ first overtime victory since defeating UTEP on Jan. 1, 2021.
- Homecourt advantage is real for Southern Miss. The Golden Eagles are 34-4 inside Reed Green Coliseum since the start of the 2022-23 season.
- Six Southern Miss players scored in double figures for the first time since Nov. 11, 2016 – Worrell (20 points), Harris (19 points), DeAntoni Gordon (13 points), Curbelo (13 points), Montgomery (11 points), and Alvarez (11 points).
- Harris had his fifth double-double in a row, grabbing 16 rebounds. Gordon had a career day protecting the rim with six blocks.
- Drone led Texas State with 30 points, four steals, and two blocks. Tylan Pope added 18 points and six rebounds.
- Southern Miss (8-9, 3-2 Sun Belt) has now won two conference games in a row while Texas State (9-8, 2-3) has now lost four of its last five games. The two teams will meet again on Jan. 18.
Next up
Southern Miss will now begin a four-game road streak starting with South Alabama on Wednesday night. Tipoff from the Mitchell Center is set for 7 p.m. CT.
