Eagles fall to Marshall in regular season finale

The Southern Miss men's basketball team traveled to Huntington, W. Va. Sunday afternoon to take on Marshall in what was the final regular season game before heading to the Conference USA tournament and hopefully the NCAA tournament. While the Golden Eagles were trying to get back on track after going 2-2 in their last four games, they left Marshall with a 79-75 loss, making it their fourth loss in the last eight games.

Although Marshall (18-12, 9-7 in C-USA) played well, Southern Miss (24-7, 11-5) eventually succumbed due to a lack of free throw shooting. Going only 14-26 on the game, the Eagles lost at the free throw line, despite shooting 50% from beyond the three-point line.

After trailing the whole first half and most of the second half, USM came back to take a 62-61 lead with 4:50 left in the game. The Thundering Heard went on a run and took over the lead 73-65. They would never give the lead back.

Marshall was led by forward Dennis Tinnon, who had a game high 22 points and nine rebounds. The Thundering Herd were also paced by Damier Pitts with 13 points and six rebounds, Dago Pena with 10 points and four rebounds, Shaquille Johnson with 13 points, six rebounds and five assists, and DeAndre Kane with 17 points, four rebounds and five assists.

Southern Miss was paced by Johnathan Mills with 17 points and four rebounds. LaShay Page added 11 points with a team high seven rebounds, Maurice Bolden scored 13 points and recorded five rebounds, Darnell Dodson scored 13 points and Neil Watson added five assists.

The Eagles have locked in a bye in the first round of the C-USA tournament this week in Memphis, Tenn. However, that number two seed could have been a number one seed if the Eagles would have beaten Marshall. USM awaits the winner of the Rice-ECU game. The game will be at noon at the FedEx Forum in Memphis.