HATTIESBURG, MS. (WTKR) — A tale of two halves once again coming back to bite Old Dominion on the road, this time in Mississippi.
After owning a one-point lead at halftime, Southern Miss found its rhythm out of the locker rooms and sent the Monarchs home with a 78-73 loss.
ODU jumped out to a 9-2 advantage and held a lead as large as eight in the opening half. After surrendering a 13-0 run and the lead, the silver and blue rallying to get to halftime with the point. A Tyrone Williams steal and score just before the halftime buzzer would give ODU a 34-33 lead.
The second 20 minutes, however, saw the home team turn the pressure up with efficient offense. Off a Donovan Ivory three-pointer with 18:00 to play, USM regained the lead and never gave it back.
Austin Crowley got hot from the field, scoring 20 of his game-high 30 points in the second half. Ivory would chip in 16 points in a game that saw Southern Miss go 9-18 from three.
Chaunce Jenkins paced the Monarchs with 22 points, going 12-15 from the free throw line. Williams would put 17 points and grabbed a team-high nine rebounds. ODU forced 17 turnovers and outscored the Golden Eagles in the paint 34-30, yet could not overcome USM's hot shooting from beyond the arc.
With the loss, Old Dominion falls to 6-18 and 2-10 in the Sun Belt. A rare non-conference matchup follows as the Monarchs return to Chartway Arena for their second game in the Mac-Sun Belt Challenge against Central Michigan.
