Eagles ease past Spring Hill

His team may be off to a quick start, but Larry Eustachy says he still doesn’t have his team figured out.

Southern Miss, 5-0 for the first time since 2006, used an obvious size advantage and 38 points from its bench to beat Spring Hill 90-57 at Reed Green Coliseum Saturday.

“I thought we just out-talented them,” Southern Miss coach Larry Eustachy said. “We were bigger, stronger and longer than they were. But I like our team’s attitude, and our room for improvement is still immeasurable.”

R.L. Horton’s 19 first-half points helped Southern Miss to a 51-28 lead at the break, which they increased to a 32-point lead by the eight minute mark in the second half.

Horton played just six minutes of the second period, and took just one shot.

“We knew we had to set a tone with this game,” Horton said. “I don’t mind sitting on the bench while we work on some things in a game like this. We have a lot of guys that are new and are still just trying to get experience.”

The Eagles found their stroke from the floor, shooting almost 51 percent from there. They were 8 of 22 from the 3-point arc and 14 of 21 from the free throw line.

Golden Eagle guard Buchi Awaji added 13 points, and Maurice Bolden and Angelo Johnson each chipped in 10.

Southern Miss’s 33-point margin of victory was its highest of the season.

Spring Hill was led by Marcus Coleman, who scored 20, and Antonio Burch and Nick Brown who finished with 14 and 10, respectively.

The matchup was an exhibition game for Spring Hill, which remains 3-1 with the loss.

“We still have a lot of untapped potential,” Awaji said. “This week is a new beginning for us, and we treated this game like a final tune-up game before we get into a rougher stretch of the season.”

The Eagles have one week before traveling to Oxford to take on Ole Miss.

“We got a chance to work on some things tonight,” Eustachy said. “We worked on our zone defense, and I thought we made some progress there. We’ll have our work cut out for us up in Oxford. I think they are a Sweet 16 team if they play the way they are capable of playing.

“I think it’s up to us as a coaching staff in terms of how far we go this season,” Eustachy said. “Either we’ll get them playing up to potential or we won’t.”