NCAA BASKETBALL ::: USM escapes Pirates in overtime [bk-030812]

In a game likely to be remembered as much for the disparity in fouls assessed against the teams as for the heroics that factored into the outcome, heavily-favored Southern Mississippi survived a gutsy upset bid by No. 10 seed East Carolina on Thursday to advance to the semifinal round of the Conference USA Tournament in Memphis.

Senior guard Darnell Dodson and sophomore guard Neil Watson combined for 12 points in overtime, including six clutch points in the final minute that lifted the Golden Eagles from a one-point deficit to an 81-78 victory.

Dodson's 3-pointer with 59 seconds left in the extra frame put Southern Miss ahead 78-76. His free throw 29 seconds later and a pair of charity points by sophomore guard Neil Watson with 15 seconds remaining ensured that the Golden Eagles would escape the fearless challenge from the underdog Pirates.

East Carolina sophomore forward Robert Sampson, whose 3-pointer with 17 seconds left in regulation sent the game into overtime, made a layup with 7 seconds remaining in the extra period to close the gap to 81-78.

Watson was fouled immediately and missed both free throws, leaving the door open for East Carolina to spring its second upset in two days. But freshman guard Paris Roberts-Campbell's shot from behind the arc with 2 seconds left missed the mark.

Junior guard Miguel Paul was the turbo-charger in the Pirates' offense, scoring a career-high 28 points and dishing out a tournament record 12 assists. Junior forward Maurice Kemp had 18 points and Sampson finished with 15.

Watson and junior forward Jonathan Mills paced Southern Miss with 18 and 17 points, respectively.

East Carolina was whistled for 28 fouls while Southern Miss was charged with 16. The resulting 27-9 scoring advantage for the Golden Eagles on converted free throws combined with the loss of ECU senior pivotman Darrius Morrow, Kemp and junior guard Erin Straughn to fouls factored directly into the outcome.

Pirates coach Jeff Lebo noted in his postgame remarks that the Golden Eagles have achieved success all season by prospering at the charity stripe.

"Congratulations to Southern Miss ... they've had a heck of a year and won a ton of close games and this is another one," Lebo said. "They won it the way they've won it all year ... by getting to the foul line a lot. More than we did."

As the game progressed into its dramatic, latter stages, some of the whistles drew jeers from the mostly non-partisan fans on hand. A particularly notable cascade of cat-calls and boos came when Kemp was called for his fifth violation after making what appeared to be a clean block of a Mills shot with 1:49 left in overtime and the Pirate clinging to a 74-73 lead.

The score was tied nine times and there were 15 lead changes. Southern Miss led at halftime 32-30 and extended the lead to as much as eight in the second frame before the Pirates stormed back.

The Golden Eagles (25-7) had a bye into the quarterfinals and will be paired against No. 6 seed Marshall in a 4 p.m. semifinal game today. The Thundering Herd advanced by stunning third seed Tulsa 105-10 in three overtimes Thursday afternoon.

Host and top seed Memphis will take on No. 4 seed Central Florida in the other semifinal matchup at 6:30 p.m. The Tigers easily took care of eighth seed Texas-El Paso 65-47 Thursday evening and UCF defeated No. 5 seed UAB 64-54 in the nightcap.

BOX SCORE

SOUTHERN MISS 81, EAST CAROLINA 78 [OT]

Date: Thursday, Mar. 8, 2012
Event: Conference USA Tournament Ouarterfinal Round
Place: FedExForum, Memphis, TN
Attendance: 7,930
Records: ECU 15-16; USM 25-7.

SCORE BY PERIODS     1   2  OT FINAL
East Carolina       30 38 10 - 78
Southern Miss       32 36 13 - 81

ECU PIRATES
# PLAYER                    FG   3PT    FT R PTS MIN
.........................  ....  .... .... .. ... ...
01 Morrow, Darrius..... f   0-2   0-0   0-2 2   0 22
12 Sampson, Robert..... f   5-7   3-5   2-2 9 15 33
00 Paul, Miguel........ g 10-24 4-13   4-5 2 28 43
11 Gaines, Corvonn..... g   2-5   2-4   0-0 2   6 32
23 Straughn, Erin...... g   3-4   2-2   0-1 3   8 31
02 Kemp, Maurice.........   6-9   3-3   3-3 3 18 26
03 Torlak, Petar.........   0-0   0-0   0-0 0   0   1
22 Campbell, Paris.......   1-5   1-4   0-0 5   3 37
TEAM.....................                    3
TOTALS................... 27-56 15-31 9-13 29 78 225
PERCENT.................. 48.2 48.4 69.2

USM GOLDEN EAGLES
# PLAYER                    FG   3PT    FT R PTS MIN
.........................  ....  .... .... .. ... ...
24 Mills, Jonathan..... f   5-9   0-0 6-10 8 16 38
00 Page, LaShay........ g   2-7   0-3   6-6 5 10 44
01 Bolden, Maurice..... g   4-9   0-1   3-4 3 11 24
12 McGill, Rashard..... g   1-1   0-0   1-2 5   3 15
23 Johnson, Angelo..... g   3-5   1-2   4-4 3 11 37
02 Dodson, Darnell.......   5-8   2-2   1-2 3 13 15
05 Watson, Neil.......... 5-15   1-5   6-9 6 17 38
10 Jenkins, Cedric.......   0-1   0-1   0-0 0   0   3
15 Pelham, Torye.........   0-2   0-0   0-0 3   0 11
TEAM.....................                    0
TOTALS................... 25-57 4-14 27-37 36 81 225
PERCENT.................. 43.9 28.6 73.0

Fouled out: Morrow, Straughn, Kemp, Pelham
Technical Fouls: Straughn, Pelham
Officials: Rick Hartzell, Kelly Self, Kipp Kissinger