Southern Miss grabs season opener

The Southern Miss Golden Eagles were able to put away Spring Hill 76-41 Saturday for their season opener. Maurice Bolden paced the Eagles with 15 points.

A great start allowed USM to grab the lead early with a 21-4 run to begin the game. The Golden Eagles (1-0) were able to dominate the Badgers (1-2) on the boards as they grabbed 40 rebounds to Spring Hill's 18.

"Parts of the game I really liked," said Southern Miss head basketball coach Larry Eustachy. "[Spring Hill's Robert Thompson] is a good coach and they run good stuff.  We broke down in a lot of areas, but there were parts where we played really well and stymied a team that executes well."

Along with Bolden, Rashard McGill and Jonathan Mills chipped in 13 apiece and Angelo Johnson threw in 11 points of his own. The team shot 47.5 percent from the field, but was able to sink 11 out of 13 free throw opportunities.

"I would say playing together more," said Johnson about what the team needs to build upon. "There were a couple of times where we made a few selfish plays, but it wasn't purposely done or anything. That was a good first game."

"Spring Hill played hard," Bolden said. "They are a good team and we came out with the win. I feel like we could play a little harder, but you have to progress. Overall, we had some slip ups a little bit when got the lead. That's when we have to put our foot down and dig down play more aggressive without getting tired."

The Golden Eagles will now begin a tough road trip out West. They take on Denver next Thursday and Colorado State next Saturday. From there, they will travel to Anchorage, Alaska to participate in the Carrs/Safeway Great Alaska Shootout tournament over Thanksgiving.

"We will come back a lot better," said Eustachy on how he wants the team to grow on the West Coast trip. "We will be a close team. We did it on purpose. I'm not worried about how many we win. I want to be a good team late and hopefully we can be."

The Golden Eagles will be back at Reed Green Coliseum when they take on New Mexico State Dec. 4.