In front of a senior night crowd of just under 4,000, Southern Miss (10-19, 5-11) lost their sixth straight contest in a narrow defeat to Louisiana (11-18, 8-8) by a score of 62-60 at Reed Green Coliseum Saturday.
Despite the Golden Eagles having four players in double figures and power forward Denijay Harris earning his 16th double-double of the season (12 points, 17 rebounds), Southern Miss suffered another home loss.
Scoring summary
Southern Miss guard Cobie Montgomery scored the first points of the night, extending his three-pointer streak to 24 of the last 25 games. The two teams then went the next six minutes with just one field goal apiece.
Jeffery Armstrong busted the scoring drought with a corner three-pointer in front of the Cajun bench which briefly gave Southern Miss the lead, but Chancellor White and Kyran Ratliff had an answer as the two rattled off a three-pointer and a dunk to flip it to a five-point Cajun advantage.
Louisiana led for the next five minutes before Neftali Alvarez started a 6-0 Golden Eagle run that turned into a 23-20 lead. The advantage stuck until Kentrell Garnett and Michael Thomas drained back-to-back three-pointers in the final sixty seconds to make it 28-25 at halftime.
The second half turned into a thriller with six lead changes and three ties. Alvarez reclaimed the lead for Southern Miss within two minutes of playing time. But it didn’t last long with the Cajuns quickly ripping off a 7-2 run to build up a five-point lead.
Trailing 42-37, Christian Watson converted an and-one that sparked a 7-0 run for USM. The run ended with an impressive alley-oop from John Wade III and Gordon that gave the Golden Eagles a 44-42 lead with 9:31 to play.
Louisiana made its final move on a corner three-pointer from Garnett. That gave the Cajuns the lead and helped them turn it into a six-point advantage after a Brandon Hardy triple with 1:49 to go. The Golden Eagles made one last comeback attempt as Harris and Watson combined to cut it to a one-point game.
Wright had a chance to ice the game at the free throw line with seven seconds remaining, but only put in one. Watson grabbed the rebound, pushing the ball ahead to Alvarez who drove to the rim with the clock ticking closer to zero. The point guard’s heroic attempt fell short on a contested layup.
What the coach said
With a rough feeling of dropping a sixth straight, head coach Jay Ladner attempted to explain that it wasn’t in the stats, but a sequence of plays.
“People tend to get focused on the last few plays, but basketball games are through a series of possessions and losses are graded by players not doing things right,” the sixth-year head coach Ladner said. “We certainly did a number of good things in the game and Louisiana is one of the best upcoming teams in the Sun Belt, but we struggled with rhythm on offense.”
After his discussion of the game, Ladner released a statement that point guard Andre Curbelo, who was ejected from Thursday night’s loss to Coastal Carolina, is no longer a member of the team. Curbelo was suspended earlier in December 2024 and was allowed back on the team in mid-January.
Next up
Reed Green Coliseum will play host to the final two regular season games next week as Southern Miss welcomes South Alabama and Troy. The week starts against the Jaguars on Wednesday at 7:30 p.m.
