HATTIESBURG, Miss. – Felipe Haase scored all 17 of his points in the second half while DeAndre Pinckney scored 12 of his team-high 22 after intermission as Southern Miss earned a hard-fought 82-71 victory over the Louisiana Ragin’ Cajuns in a battle between the Sun Belt Conference co-leaders on Thursday at Reed Green Coliseum.
Neftali Alvarez came off the bench to score 17 points for Southern Miss (22-4, 11-2 Sun Belt), which was 16-for-26 (61.5 percent) from the floor in the second half and 27 of 51 (53 percent) for the game. Austin Crowley added 13 points as the Golden Eagles made 7 of 16 attempts from behind the 3-point line and was 21-for-26 from the free throw line.
Louisiana (20-5, 10-3 Sun Belt) suffered its first loss in the 2023 calendar year as its 10-game win streak – the third-longest nationally entering the game – was snapped. The Ragin’ Cajuns led by as many as 10 points in the first half and 38-33 at halftime before going 10-for-35 in the second half and 0-for-10 from behind the 3-point line.
Haase finished 6-for-11 from the floor as helped Southern Miss outscore the Ragin’ Cajuns, 49-33, in the second half. Pinckney opened an 8-0 run for the Golden Eagles as his 3-pointer with 13:34 remaining gave USM the lead for good at 50-49.
Louisiana finished a season-low 24-for-65 (36.9 percent) from the floor and 2-for-15 from behind the 3-point line. Themus Fulks’ bucket with 16:51 remaining gave Louisiana a 46-42 lead, but the Ragin’ Cajuns would miss 17 of their next 19 attempts in the next 11-plus minutes while the Golden Eagles would go 10-for-18 from the floor in the same span.
Jordan Brown led all players with 25 points on 9 of 17 shooting with Fulks scoring a career-high 19. Kentrell Garnett added eight points, going 2-for-4 from behind the 3-point line, for Louisiana with Jalen Dalcourt scoring six points off the bench.
Louisiana used a 12-2 run in the first half to take a 36-26 lead as Garnett opened the scoring with his second 3-pointer of the night before Fulks made 3 of 4 free throws. Brown added a pair of buckets for the Ragin’ Cajuns before Fulks’ bucket gave Louisiana its largest lead of the game with 4:07 left in the first half.
Louisiana will close out its two-game road trip on Saturday when it travels to Troy, Ala., to face Troy in a 4 p.m. contest at Trojan Arena.
Single-game tickets are available by visiting the Louisiana Athletics Box Office at the Cajundome, purchasing by visiting Account Manager. For more information call the Louisiana Athletics Box Office at the Cajundome at (337) 265-2104.
Fans are encouraged to stay engaged with the Ragin' Cajuns by downloading the #GeauxCajuns app. Click here [apps.apple.com] for iOS/Apple platforms and here [play.google.com] for Android platforms.
For the latest on Louisiana Men's Basketball, stay tuned to RaginCajuns.com and follow the team on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook (RaginCajunsMBB).
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