Harris Has Another Monster Night as Southern Miss Tops ULM at The Greenhouse

Story from USM Athletics:
HATTIESBURG, Miss. – Denijay Harrisdelivered another massive performance as he helped Southern Miss (7-9, 2-2 Sun Belt) to an 84-67 win over ULM (4-13, 0-4 Sun Belt) on Thursday night. Harris’ 19-point, 18-rebound performance helped the men’s basketball team move to 33-4 at Reed Green Coliseum over the last three seasons.

Alfred Worrell Jr. added a career-high 16 points in 13 minutes of action. The Washington, D.C. native went 7-for-11 from the floor and knocked down a pair of three-pointers. Neftali Alvarez returned from injury and scored 14 points – 12 of those were in the first half. Despite scoring six of Southern Miss’ first 10 points, DeAntoni Gordon finished with eight points after scoring only one more bucket.

Cobie Montgomery scored eight points and extended his three-pointer streak to 12 consecutive games. While Christian Watson struggled shooting the ball tonight, the Miami (Fla.) transfer made up for it by dishing out a season-high six assists.

How it Happened
Shades of the last meeting at Reed Green Coliseum hung around for much of the first half as ULM controlled the game early. The Golden Eagles led for the first three minutes of the ballgame, but it was all Warhawks after that.

ULM got 11 straight points form Jalen Bolden to take a nine-point lead halfway through the half. Neftali Alvarez matched Bolden with six points of his own to keep Southern Miss within reach. The Warhawks, though, built a 10-point lead when they went up 31-21 with 8:03 left in the half.

Southern Miss then came out of the under-eight media timeout with some fire. The Golden Eagles ripped off a 7-0 run to regain momentum at The Greenhouse. Alvarez made it a one-point game with just over four minutes to play, but ULM had an answer as Jacob Wilson hit a three.

Denijay Harris scored the final five points of the half as he helped pull Southern Miss back within one when he drained a jumper with seven seconds left. The Golden Eagles shot 50 percent from the floor in the first half and went into the locker room trailing 40-39.

The Golden Eagles opened the second half on a 12-2 run and regained the lead 24 seconds into the half. Southern Miss continued to pull away and took a 10-point lead when Andre Curbelo put home a fast-break layup. Alfred Worrell Jr. followed with back-to-back layups as the junior college transfer played his way to a career-high 16 points.

Worrell Jr. blew the game open with a three-pointer and breakaway layup on consecutive offensive possessions. The layup put Southern Miss up 13 with 4:12 left in the game, them Curbelo started a 9-0 run that put the Golden Eagles ahead by 21.

Jett Montgomery put the dagger to ULM when he nailed a three-pointer from the top of the key to put the Southern Miss advantage at 20. ULM got the final points of the game, but the Golden Eagles had already taken control in their eventual 17-point win.