Southern Miss rallies for 81-78 overtime win at Rice

Golden Eagles improve to 13-3 with road victory

Southern Miss was forced to complete two comebacks in order to capture an 81-78 overtime win over Rice on Wednesday night at Tudor Fieldhouse in Houston.

The Golden Eagles (13-3, 2-1) shot just 33 percent in the first half and they found themselves down 34-25 at the break. Rice (8-9, 0-3) knocked down 6-of-11 three-pointers in the game's first 20 minutes.

The Owls' advantage grew to 13 with 16:26 to play when Connor Frizzelle knocked down one of his four trifectas. Frizzelle finished with a team-high 21 points.

Southern Miss sliced into the lead and pulled within five when R.L. Horton hit a jumper with just under nine minutes remaining. The Golden Eagles went ahead for the first time since the 4:21 mark in the first half when D.J. Newbill scored with 2:46 left.

After Arsalan Kazemi hit the first of two to knot the game at 63, LaShay Page made a trifecta to put USM up 66-63 with just over a minute to play. A Kazemi lay-up pulled the Owls within one, but a hoop by Newbill extended the lead back to three.

Connor Frizzelle sent the game to overtime by converting his fourth three-pointer with 18 ticks left in regulation.

Rice outscored Larry Eustachy's club 9-2 to begin overtime and led 77-70 with 2:59 left after two free throws by Tamir Jackson.

However, Gary Flowers, the game's high-scorer with 24 points, fueled an 11-1 run to close the extra period and lead the Golden Eagles to the road victory.

Flowers also pulled down eight boards and dished out five assists.

Rice shot 10-of-20 from beyond the arc in the loss. Tamir Jackson had 19 points and five assists, but committed eight of the Owls' 21 turnovers.