USM stretches win streak to 9, rallies past UL-Monroe

HATTIESBURG, Miss. (WDAM) - The University of Southern Mississippi men’s basketball team might have figured Saturday afternoon that if something ain’t broke, don’t fix it.

For a second consecutive Sun Belt Conference game at Reed Green Coliseum, the Golden Eagles fell behind in the first half, closed within striking distance by halftime and then turned on the afterburners in the second half to run away to a win.

Felipe Haase scored 16 of his team-high 23 points in the second half to help the Golden Eagles rally past the University of Louisiana-Monroe, 76-67, before 4,578.

USM (23-4, 12-2 Sun Belt) remained unbeaten in 14 games at Reed Green this season while chalking up its ninth consecutive conference victory.

The victory also assured the Golden Eagles of remaining alone atop the Sun Belt standings after breaking a deadlock Thursday night with a win over the University of Louisiana-Lafayette.

UL-Lafayette (20-6, 10-4) lost for a second-consecutive time, dropping an 80-65 decision at Troy University Saturday. USM now owns a two-game lead over the Ragin’ Cajuns and Marshall University (21-6, 10-4) with four games left to play in the regular season.

USM trailed the Warhawks (11-16, 7-7) by two at halftime after falling behind by as many as eight points in the first.

The Golden Eagles then outscored UL-Monroe 45-34 in the second half.

DeAndre Pinckney added 17 points and five rebounds for USM, while Denijay Harris had 12 points, four rebounds and two assists and Austin Crowley finished with seven points and a team-best eight rebounds and four assists.

UL-Monroe got a game-high 24 points from Tyreke Locure and seven points and a game-high 10 rebounds from Thomas Howell.

The Golden Eagles will it the road for a 7 p.m. showdown Thursday with the University of South Alabama. in Mobile, Ala.

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