Golden Eagles duck East Carolina upset bid

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Offensive rebounding helped Southern Mississippi survive a second half East Carolina rally Wednesday night and extend its winning streak to 10 games with a 78-76 Conference USA victory in Hattiesburg.

Junior guard LaShay Page connected on 6-of-11 3-point shots and helped USM (14-2, 1-0 C-USA) build what looked to be a comfortable 12-point margin before the Pirates went on a 12-0 second half run that knotted the teams at 64-64 with 5:52 left.

The ECU surge was fueled by two baskets from senior forward Darrius Morrow and a pair of 3-pointers from freshman guard Paris Roberts-Campbell.

Junior forward Jonathan Mills hit one of two free throws to nudge the Knights back in front 65-64 at the 5:37 mark and the Golden Eagles fought to hold on the rest of the way.

Leading 74-72 with 15 seconds remaining, USM sidestepped a bullet when junior guard Rashard McGill grabbed an offensive rebound after a missed free throw by sophomore guard Neil Watson.

The Golden Eagles dodged a second bullet when McGill, who was fouled on the play, missed his own chance from the charity stripe and then watched as teammate senior forward Torye Pelham snatched an offensive carom.

In the closing seconds, USM went 4-of-4 from the free throw line to negate a conventional three-point play and a free throw by ECU junior guard Paul Miguel.

Southern Miss won the battle of the boards 35-25, including a dominating 15-5 advantage on the offensive glass.

Page led the Golden Eagles with 20 points, senior guard Darnell Dodson came off the bench to score 17, Watson recorded 11 and senior forward Maurice Bolden contributed 10.

Morrow scored 23 points, Paul had 19 and junior forward Maurice Kemp added 14 to pace the Pirates.

East Carolina continues its conference schedule with a home matchup against Central Florida on Saturday at 5 p.m. The Golden Knights will come into the contest without head coach Donnie Jones, who was suspended by the school for the team's first three league game in the wake of an NCAA investigation.

UCF is 11-3 (1-0) after knocking off Tulane 60-53 Wednesday night in Orlando.

BOX SCORE

SOUTHERN MISSISSIPPI 78, EAST CAROLINA 76

Date: Thursday, Jan. 4, 2012
Place: Reed Green Coliseum, Hattiesburg, MS
Attendance: 2,889

Records: ECU 9-5 (0-1 Conference USA); USM 14-2 (1-0)

SCORE BY PERIODS     1   2  FINAL
East Carolina       37  39  -  76
Southern Miss       41  37  -  78

EAST CAROLINA PIRATES
 # PLAYER                    FG   3PT    FT  R PTS MIN
.........................    ..   ...    ..  . ... ...
01 Morrow, Darrius..... f  7-12   0-0   9-9  5  23  37
02 Kemp, Maurice....... f   5-9   0-0   4-4  6  14  26
00 Paul, Miguel........ g  7-14   3-8   2-3  2  19  36
20 Bowden, Shamarr..... g   2-4   0-1   0-0  0   4  18
23 Straughn, Erin...... g   2-4   0-1   0-0  5   4  28
11 Gaines, Corvonn.......   0-1   0-0   0-0  1   0  13
12 Sampson, Robert.......   1-1   1-1   0-0  1   3  14
22 CAMPBELL, Paris.......   3-6   3-5   0-0  1   9  25
25 Steed, Austin.........   0-0   0-0   0-0  1   0   3
TEAM.....................                    3
TOTALS................... 27-51  7-16 15-16 25  76 200
PERCENT..................  52.9  43.8  93.8

SOUTHERN MISS GOLDEN EAGLES
 # PLAYER                    FG   3PT    FT  R PTS MIN
.........................    ..   ...    ..  . ... ...
01 Bolden, Maurice..... f   2-3   0-0   6-6  4  10  23
15 Pelham, Torye....... f   3-4   0-0   0-1 10   6  21
00 Page, LaShay........ g  6-13  6-11   2-2  4  20  40
12 McGill, Rashard..... g   1-2   0-0   0-1  2   2  14
23 Johnson, Angelo..... g   4-9   0-4   0-0  2   8  38
02 Dodson, Darnell.......   5-8   0-2   7-8  6  17  21
05 Watson, Neil..........  3-11   1-4   4-5  2  11  28
24 Mills, Jonathan.......   1-5   0-0   2-5  4   4  15
TEAM.....................                    1
TOTALS................... 25-55  7-21 21-28 35  78 200
PERCENT..................  45.5  33.3  75.0

Fouled out: None
Technical Fouls: None
Officials: Doug Sirmons, Patrick Adams, Terry Davis

PAGE UPDATED 01/06/12 02:30 AM.

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