Houston, TX (Sports Network) – Gary Flowers scored 24 points for the Southern Miss Golden Eagles, including a pair of free throws down the stretch, to secure an 81-78 overtime victory over the Rice Owls in a Conference USA showdown at the Tudor Fieldhouse.
LaShay Page netted 15 points in the win for Southern Miss (13-3, 2-1 CUSA), while R.L. Horton and D.J. Newbill contributed 11 points apiece.
Rice (8-9, 0-3) was led by 21 points from Connor Frizzelle in the loss. Tamir Jackson added 19, while Lucas Kuipers and Arsalan Kazemi provided healthy efforts as well, scoring 13 and 10 points, respectively.
The Owls held a 34-25 advantage at the intermission after holding Southern Miss to just 33.3 percent shooting from the floor in the opening half.
The Golden Eagles were able to extend the game into overtime after improving to 57.1 percent from the floor in the second stanza.
Southern Miss secured the victory after outscoring the Owls 13-10 in the extra session.