Dec. 29, 2010

Box Score Box Score

HATTIESBURG, Miss. - - The Southern Miss men's basketball team got back to its winning ways, knocking off in-state foe Mississippi Valley State, 91-46, Wednesday night in the opening round of the Hardwood Club Holiday Tournament at Reed Green Coliseum.

The Golden Eagles (10-2) move on to the Championship game, tomorrow night at 7 p.m. CT, against Savannah State. The Tigers defeated Southeastern Louisiana, 74-65, in the earlier game.

Mississippi Valley State will face Southeastern Louisiana in the Consolation game at 4:30 p.m. CT.

"I thought that was as good as we played in a long time," said head coach Larry Eustachy. "I'm really proud of our guys. I really didn't know what to expect. We had a tough ending against Colorado State, and I thought we showed a lot of character tonight. What we held (Mississippi Valley State) to was pretty staggering. There were a lot of positives. I couldn't be happier with the win. It was our best performance of the year."

Senior Gary Flowers led all scorers with 19 points, while pulling down seven rebounds. Sophomore LaShay Page scored a season-high 17 points, on four three-pointers, also a season-high. Freshman D.J. Newbill recorded his team-leading fourth double-double of the season, dropping in 11 points and pulling down 10 rebounds.

Senior R.L. Horton scored nine points, and junior Angelo Johnson recorded seven points, seven assists, and six rebounds.

The Golden Eagles outrebounded MVSU, 51-41. It is the fifth time this year that the Black and Gold pulled down at least 50 boards.

Southern Miss shot 47.6-percent (30-of-63) from the floor, including 11-of-24 (45.8%) from behind the arc. The Golden Eagles held the Delta Devils to just 20.3-percent shooting, the third lowest field goal percentage ever for a Southern Miss opponent.

Southern Miss outscored MVSU 14-4 in the paint en route to a 41-20 halftime lead, and led by as many as 49 in the second half.

Mississippi Valley center Paul Crosby scored 12 to lead the Delta Devils and D'Angelo Jackson made 8-of-10 free throws on his way to 10 points.