USM escapes Pirates in
overtime
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In a game likely to be
remembered as much for the disparity in fouls assessed against the teams
as for the heroics that factored into the outcome, heavily-favored
Southern Mississippi survived a gutsy upset bid by No. 10 seed East
Carolina on Thursday to advance to the semifinal round of the Conference
USA Tournament in Memphis.
Senior guard Darnell
Dodson and sophomore guard Neil Watson combined for 12 points in
overtime, including six clutch points in the final minute that lifted
the Golden Eagles from a one-point deficit to an 81-78 victory.
Dodson's 3-pointer with 59
seconds left in the extra frame put Southern Miss ahead 78-76. His free
throw 29 seconds later and a pair of charity points by sophomore guard
Neil Watson with 15 seconds remaining ensured that the Golden Eagles
would escape the fearless challenge from the underdog Pirates.
East Carolina sophomore
forward Robert Sampson, whose 3-pointer with 17 seconds left in
regulation sent the game into overtime, made a layup with 7 seconds
remaining in the extra period to close the gap to 81-78.
Watson was fouled
immediately and missed both free throws, leaving the door open for East
Carolina to spring its second upset in two days. But freshman guard
Paris Roberts-Campbell's shot from behind the arc with 2 seconds left
missed the mark.
Junior guard Miguel Paul
was the turbo-charger in the Pirates' offense, scoring a career-high 28
points and dishing out a tournament record 12 assists. Junior forward
Maurice Kemp had 18 points and Sampson finished with 15.
Watson and junior forward
Jonathan Mills paced Southern Miss with 18 and 17 points, respectively.
East Carolina was whistled
for 28 fouls while Southern Miss was charged with 16. The resulting 27-9
scoring advantage for the Golden Eagles on converted free throws
combined with the loss of ECU senior pivotman Darrius Morrow, Kemp and
junior guard Erin Straughn to fouls factored directly into the outcome.
Pirates coach Jeff Lebo
noted in his postgame remarks that the Golden Eagles have achieved
success all season by prospering at the charity stripe.
"Congratulations to
Southern Miss ... they've had a heck of a year and won a ton of close
games and this is another one," Lebo said. "They won it the way they've
won it all year ... by getting to the foul line a lot. More than we
did."
As the game progressed
into its dramatic, latter stages, some of the whistles drew jeers from
the mostly non-partisan fans on hand. A particularly notable cascade of
cat-calls and boos came when Kemp was called for his fifth violation
after making what appeared to be a clean block of a Mills shot with 1:49
left in overtime and the Pirate clinging to a 74-73 lead.
The score was tied nine
times and there were 15 lead changes. Southern Miss led at halftime
32-30 and extended the lead to as much as eight in the second frame
before the Pirates stormed back.
East Carolina (15-16)
earned the right to challenge Southern Miss by
knocking off seventh seed Rice 68-66
in the preliminary round on Wednesday.
The Golden Eagles (25-7)
had a bye into the quarterfinals and will be paired against No. 6 seed
Marshall in a 4 p.m. semifinal game today. The Thundering Herd advanced
by stunning third seed Tulsa 105-10 in three overtimes Thursday
afternoon.
Host and top seed Memphis
will take on No. 4 seed Central Florida in the other semifinal matchup
at 6:30 p.m. The Tigers easily took care of eighth seed Texas-El Paso
65-47 Thursday evening and UCF defeated No. 5 seed UAB 64-54 in the
nightcap.
BOX SCORE
SOUTHERN MISS 81, EAST CAROLINA 78 [OT]
Date: Thursday, Mar. 8, 2012
Event: Conference USA Tournament Ouarterfinal Round
Place: FedExForum, Memphis, TN
Attendance: 7,930
Records: ECU 15-16; USM 25-7.
SCORE BY PERIODS 1 2 OT FINAL
East Carolina 30
38 10 - 78
Southern Miss
32 36 13 - 81
ECU
PIRATES
#
PLAYER FG 3PT FT R PTS MIN
......................... .... ....
.... .. ...
...
01 Morrow, Darrius..... f 0-2
0-0 0-2 2 0 22
12 Sampson, Robert..... f 5-7
3-5 2-2 9 15 33
00 Paul, Miguel........ g 10-24 4-13
4-5 2 28 43
11 Gaines, Corvonn..... g 2-5
2-4 0-0 2 6 32
23 Straughn, Erin...... g 3-4
2-2 0-1 3 8 31
02 Kemp, Maurice......... 6-9
3-3 3-3 3 18 26
03 Torlak, Petar......... 0-0
0-0 0-0 0 0
1
22 Campbell, Paris....... 1-5
1-4 0-0 5 3 37
TEAM.....................
3
TOTALS................... 27-56 15-31 9-13 29
78 225
PERCENT.................. 48.2 48.4
69.2
USM GOLDEN EAGLES
#
PLAYER FG 3PT FT R PTS MIN
......................... .... ....
.... .. ...
...
24 Mills, Jonathan..... f 5-9
0-0 6-10 8 16 38
00 Page, LaShay........ g 2-7
0-3 6-6 5 10 44
01 Bolden, Maurice..... g 4-9
0-1 3-4 3 11 24
12 McGill, Rashard..... g 1-1
0-0 1-2 5 3 15
23 Johnson, Angelo..... g 3-5
1-2 4-4 3 11 37
02 Dodson, Darnell....... 5-8
2-2 1-2 3 13 15
05 Watson, Neil.......... 5-15 1-5
6-9 6 17 38
10 Jenkins, Cedric....... 0-1
0-1 0-0 0 0
3
15 Pelham, Torye......... 0-2
0-0 0-0 3 0 11
TEAM.....................
0
TOTALS................... 25-57 4-14 27-37 36
81 225
PERCENT.................. 43.9 28.6
73.0
Fouled out: Morrow, Straughn, Kemp, Pelham
Technical Fouls: Straughn, Pelham
Officials: Rick Hartzell, Kelly Self, Kipp Kissinger
PAGE UPDATED
03/09/12 11:52 AM.
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