Southern Miss falls at Louisiana Tech

Jalen Harris made six 3-pointers and scored 20 points, Erik McCree scored 18 points, and Louisiana Tech hit a season-high 14 3-pointers to beat Southern Mississippi 93-65 in its regular-season finale on Saturday.

Jacobi Boykins added 17 points with four 3-pointers, Joniah White had 10 points, and the Bulldogs (22-9, 14-4) are the No. 2 seed in next week’s Conference USA Tournament.

Southern Miss’ next game will be in the C-USA Tournament next week.

Up by 16 at halftime, the Bulldogs led by 24, 65-41, after Boykins’ 3 capped a 7-0 run. Southern Miss closed to 17, 71-54, after an 11-3 run capped by Quinton Campbell’s 3-pointer with 10:54 left. Jy’lan Washington’s 3 with 2:32 to play gave Louisiana Tech a 30-point lead.

Watts’ free throw put the Golden Eagles up 9-8, but Harris’ 3 capped a 10-0 Bulldogs run and Louisiana Tech led 49-33 at halftime.

Campbell scored 19 for the Golden Eagles (9-21, 6-12), who for the first time since a two-year ban, are headed to the conference tournament. Raheem Watts added 12.

“Louisiana Tech just had more energy and effort than us,” USM coach Doc Sadler said. “They were able to get some easy shots, but those are going to happen. The thing we have held our hat on is the defensive end, but it’s hard to come back when a team nearly gets 50 on you in the first half.”

Southern Miss leads the all-time series 41-33.

This story was originally published March 4, 2017 at 5:02 PM with the headline "Southern Miss falls at Louisiana Tech."