Southern Miss men's basketball grabs their first conference win

Hattiesburg, Miss. - Southern Miss took on Old Dominion Saturday at Reed Green Coliseum in hopes of securing their first conference win.

Head coach, Doc Sadler said, "As I told the team after the game the other night, let's just compete guys. I think if we would just compete with belief that we are getting better, I think good things will happen for you."

It was a slow start for the Golden Eagles. O'Donnell was out for the game with a shoulder injury and the Monarchs were trying to take advantage of his missed presence early on. But after being down 13-20 at the midpoint of the first half, the Golden Eagles started to find their rhythm.

Guard, Khari Price said, "It wasn't really much of an up and down pace. You had to pick and choose. Good shots are hard to come by with a defense like that."

The Golden Eagles stole momentum late in the first half and went on a 14-7 run to go to halftime enjoying a 34-31 lead. But in the second half, Old Dominion stepped up their game and Monarch point guard, Trey Freeman started to go off on a terror, providing dimes and dropping down easy buckets.

Sadler said "the best thing that happened in my opinion is we got down 50-44 and at that point, with such a fragile team that hasn't experienced a lot of success, I think we could've gone either way at that point."

At that point, the Monarchs had all the momentum and the Golden Eagles knew it was do or die. And with that being said, Southern Miss started to rain down buckets.

Price said "it's like shooting in the ocean man. It's like anything that leaves your hand you know it's going in."

Price facilitated the rock and knocked down clutch jumpers to help his team stay in the game.

Price said "if it's passing the ball and getting assist, if it's playing defense on one of the best players in the conference in Trey Freeman, he's tough man. If it's making tough three's or driving to the basket and getting fouled. Anything that I can do to help this team get a win."

The Golden Eagles picked up their first conference win by beating Old Dominion 73-71 and are going on the road Thursday to face Florida Atlantic where they are hoping to get another win.