A-STATE
From page A6
solely to the Golden Eagles.
Southern Miss shot 54.2 percent from the field in the second half and led by as many as 25 points on the way to a 74-57 Sun Belt Conference victory. ASU’s losing streak reached five games as the Red Wolves watched the Golden Eagles open the second half on a 23-3 run.
ASU coach Mike Balado pointed to the difference in pace from the first half to the second, when the Golden Eagles (15-4, 4-2 Sun Belt) kept the Red Wolves (9-10, 1-5 conference) out of transition.
“They’re a very, very good team. They have a chance to win this league,” Balado said. “I thought our team held our own for the most part in the first half. We moved the ball, we got stops, which was the biggest key, and we got 14 points in transition, which was a big key for us to keep that game even.
“The second half, they scored a lot more on us and the game slowed down, so we couldn’t get in transition and score, which was tough for us. That’s why we only got up 23 shots and made six of them, because they were all against a set defense.”
The Red Wolves made 11of-26 shots in the first half for a .423 percentage, but connected on just six field goals in the second as their shooting percentage dipped to .261.
ASU was led by sophomore guard Avery Felts with 15 points, while Omar El-Sheikh, Terrance Ford Jr. and Markise Davis all added nine points each for the Red Wolves. El-Sheikh also pulled down a gamehigh 11 rebounds, although Southern Miss held a 40-28 advantage on the boards.
The game was tied at 33 at halftime. Southern Miss hit seven of 10 attempts from the field during its run to open the second half.
“In the first half I think we had 14 points in transition and that stems from getting stops. I told the guys before the game, ‘We’ve got to play fast,’ because I watched film last night on them playing Marshall.
Marshall played really fast and Marshall beat them by 20 or something like that,” Felts said. “When you get stops, you can play fast.
When the ball is going through the basket, it’s a lot harder to play fast. They get their defense set up. I give them credit, they made shots.”
Southern Miss was led by four players scoring in double figures, including Denijay Harris with a game-high 22 points.
Junior guard Austin Crowley scored 18, and DeAndre Pinckney and Felipe Hasse chipped in 12 and 10, respectively.
The Red Wolves jumped to a 9-4 lead, their largest of the day, three minutes into the contest, but the Golden Eagles responded by scoring the next 10 points to claim a 14-9 advantage.
ASU never led again, but the game was tied on three occasions the remainder of the half.
Felts scored the final three points at the free throw line to tie the game heading into halftime.
“The first half, we were more locked in and we pushed the ball more in transition,” El-Sheikh said.
“When we start doing that and play our pace, we get more confidence. The second half, they started scoring more, so we couldn’t push the ball in transition and our pace changed.”
ASU’s four-game home stand concludes this week as the Red Wolves play Louisiana-Lafayette (14-4, 4-2 Sun Belt) on Thursday and Marshall (15-4, 4-2) on Saturday.
“You see our tempo right now, it’s really slow because I thought it was the right way to play with a shorter bench, not knowing who’s available every day, not knowing who can practice, not knowing who can play, not knowing who wants to play,” Balado said. “We’re going to go back to playing the way we play and if I have to play five guys 35 minutes, I’ll do it. We have to find the right guys and the right combination who can help us win the game.”
