Southern Miss rides balanced scoring to end C-USA skid, ease past East Carolina 68-53

Southern Miss beats East Carolina 68-53

HATTIESBURG, Miss. — Gary Flowers, R.L. Horton and Torye Pelham chipped in 12 points each and Southern Mississippi defeated East Carolina 68-53 on Saturday.

Flowers and Pelham headlined a physical Golden Eagles front court, which outscored the Pirates 42-20 in the paint and won the rebounding battle 34-21.

Buchi Awaji and Sai’Quon Stone chipped in 10 points apiece for the Golden Eagles (11-8, 1-4 Conference USA), who won their first regular-season conference game since Feb. 17 when they defeated East Carolina 69-59.

Southern Miss shot 48 percent (26 of 54) from the floor in the win, which snapped a two-game losing skid.

Jamar Abrams led East Carolina (6-13, 0-5) with 18 points. The Pirates extended their losing streak to five games, and increased their Conference USA losing streak to 11 games. East Carolina has not won a league game since Feb. 15.