TULSA, Okla. — Gary Flowers had 17 points and 14 rebounds as Southern Miss defeated Tulane 57-47 in the first round of the Conference USA Tournament Wednesday.
Southern Miss, the sixth seed, will play third-seeded UAB in a quarterfinal matchup Thursday.
The Golden Eagles (19-12) never trailed against Tulane, scoring the first eight points. Torye Pelham’s three-point play — a dunk and a free throw — put Southern Miss up 19-8 with 10:45 left in the half.
The Golden Eagles’ biggest lead was at 41-27 in the second half. The Green Wave (8-22) never got closer than eight points the rest of the way.
Pelham and Angelo Johnson scored 11 points for Southern Miss, which made just 33 percent of its shots (19-for-58). Tulane, which struggled even more at 31 percent (19-for-62), got eight points apiece from Kris Richard and Johnny Mayhane.
The Golden Eagles went to the free-throw line more often, going 19-for-29, as a result of their success getting inside.
“I don’t think there was much flow to the game,” Southern Miss coach Larry Eustachy said. “I thought under the circumstances it was a great win by a bunch of new guys who showed a lot of heart. When you shoot (poorly) and still win you are really showing something. We have played better and we will play better tomorrow. I am proud of our guys. They did what it took to win the game.”
Southern Miss went into a 6-minute scoring drought before Flowers ended it with a layup. But the Golden Eagles still led 25-16 at the half, thanks to the defense forcing Tulane into missed shots.
“We prepare for those situations,” Flowers said. “Our practice styles are very tough. We get attempts up because of the defense we play. When it does go up we take pride in trying to go get it.”
They increased their defense in the second half as they limited to Tulane to one shot per possession, while getting second- and third-chance opportunities on the other end.
“We had some good offensive rebounds,” Eustachy said. “Our bench didn’t give us much. They struggled so we had to put fatigued guys in. I thought we were extremely fatigued.”
Southern Miss finished with a 50-38 rebounding advantage.
UAB swept Southern Miss in the regular season with both losses coming by a combined six points. The previous meeting ended at 59-54 in Hattiesburg back on Feb. 17. When the teams met Jan. 20 in Birmingham, the Blazers won just by one point, at 57-56.
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USM win in C-USA tourney
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