February 20, 2008

Associated Press
PonyPride.com

HATTIESBURG, Miss. (AP) ? Jeremy Wise scored 22 points to lead Southern Miss to an 81-61 win over SMU on Wednesday.

Wise scored 18 points in the first half as Southern Miss (14-11, 6-5 Conference USA) used a pair of big runs to take control of the game. The Golden Eagles have won four of their last five games.

The Mustangs (8-16, 2-9) have lost three in a row and five of their last six.

The Golden Eagles went on a 17-3 run early in the game to take a 23-9 lead midway through the opening half.

The Mustangs cut the deficit to 27-20 thanks to a pair of baskets by Jon Killen, but then Southern Miss went on a 19-2 run over the last seven minutes of the half.

Wise had nine points in the second run, including a 15-foot jumper with 45 seconds to play that put him over the 1,000 point mark in his career. Wise is just a sophomore and became the 31st player in school history to score over 1,000 points.

The Golden Eagles lead 46-22 at halftime and put to rest any hopes the Mustangs had of making a comeback by outscoring SMU 12-3 to begin the second half.

R.L. Horton added 18 points and Courtney Beasley chipped in 13.

Killen paced SMU with 12 points and Papa Dia added 10. The Mustangs played without the team's second leading scorer, Derrick Roberts, who missed the game for undisclosed reasons.