University of Memphis Athletics
University of Memphis
Southern Miss
Men's Hoops Drops One To Southern Miss, 84-67
Jan 11, 2003 | Men's Basketball
Jan 11, 2003
HATTIESBURG, Miss. (AP) - After sputtering through the first half against Memphis, Southern Miss scored a season high 55 points in the second half to come back to beat the Tigers 84-67 on Saturday.
Greg Johnson had 22 points and 10 rebounds for the Golden Eagles (8-4, 2-0 C-USA) to lead them from a 35-29 halftime deficit in the Conference USA matchup.
"To be down at the half and come out and play like we did in the second half was good," Southern Miss head coach James Green said. "We came out, took control in the second half and played all the way through. I am real proud of the guys."
Johnson led four USM players in double figures. Jasper Johnson had 17 points, David Haywood scored 13 and Charles Gaines had 12.
"You have to give our guys a lot of credit," Green said. "We played smart and stuck to our game plan. Every guy played with passion. That was one of our better moments and our best game of the year."
Chris Massie had a team high 19 points for Memphis (10-3, 1-1). The loss snapped a six-game winning streak for the Tigers.
"We had some guys who just didn't understand what we wanted to do with defense and rebounding," Memphis head coach John Calipari said. "Our players just wanted to show their stuff. All Southern Miss did was guard us and moved the ball on us."
The Tigers shot 46 percent from the field, but the Golden Eagles were able to capitalize on the Tigers' poor free throw (7-20) and 3-point (2-21) shooting.
The lead changed seven times in the first half. USM shot just 38 percent from the field in the first half, missing all six 3-point attempts. The Golden Eagles came back to shoot 56 percent in the second half.
"We just wanted to come out and play hard in the second half," Greg Johnson said. "We let up some at the end of the first half, but we played better after that."
After Memphis took a 39-31 lead early in the second half, Southern Miss went on an 11-1 run over the next two minutes to take a 42-40 lead with 16:12 remaining in the game.
Memphis tied the game once more, but USM took the lead for good when Jasper Johnson connected on a jumper with 15:12 left.
Billy Richmond had 17 points for Memphis and Antonio Burks added 13.
