HATTIESBURG, Miss. -- Chaunce Jenkins scored 22 points and Tyrone Williams added 17 as Old Dominion fell 78-73 at Southern Miss on Wednesday night.
"We came out ready and battled, but ultimately we've got to find a way to make winning plays at the end to get a win. And to the credit of Southern Miss, they were," said ODU Interim Head Coach Kieran Donohue.
Austin Crowley got the scoring started for Southern Miss with a jumper in the paint 17 seconds in, though the Monarchs answered with the next nine points. The capper on that run came in the form of a 3-pointer from Leeroy Odiahi as he caught a pass at the top of the key, with the shot clock running down, and drained the triple for a 9-2 ODU lead at the 16:41 mark.
Southern Miss (13-11, 7-5 Sun Belt) responded with a jumper from Victor Iwaukor, but Jenkins converted a traditional 3-point play with 15:52 on the clock as ODU held a 12-4 lead.
The Golden Eagles went on an 11-4 burst to trim the deficit to 16-15 as Jeffrey Armstrong drilled a 3-ball with 11:10 left. ODU got quick buckets from Devin Ceaser and Imo Essien pushing the lead back to five at 20-15 with 10:13 left in the half.
Bryce Baker drained a 3-pointer pushing the margin back to eight at 24-16 with 7:46 on the clock. That woke up the hosts as they went on 13-0 run as an Iwuakor three-point play with 4:08 remaining gave them a 29-24 lead.
The Monarchs (6-18, 2-10) responded with an 8-3 burst to regain the lead on a Jenkins jumper in the paint with 1:42 on the clock. Southern Miss used a pair of Crowley free throws for a 33-32 lead 32 seconds later, but Williams had a steal and layup putting ODU up 34-33 with 24 seconds on the clock.
The Monarchs forced two Southern Miss shots, but neither hit bottom as ODU held the advantage at halftime.
Southern Miss hit their first five shots of the second half and took a 45-39 lead on a Donovan Ivory dunk with 16:16 left. The lead grew to as much as 11 on a floating jumper by Iwuakor with 7:44 left and a 65-54 advantage.
ODU had one more run in them trimming the margin to four as Ceaser hit a jumper, Williams had a layup and Essien drilled a 3-ball for a 65-61 deficit at the 6:28 mark.
Jenkins had a pair of free throws for a 67-63 deficit with 4:21 left and Jason Wade drilled a 3-pointer for a 70-66 deficit with 2:49 on the clock. However, Southern Miss hit enough free throws to keep ODU at distance from there.
Jenkins was 12-of-15 from the line for career highs in free throws made and free throw attempts. Williams had 17 points, nine rebounds and a season-best five steals. ODU was 26-of-63 from the floor (41.3%), 6-of-20 from 3-point land (30%) and 15-of-19 from the line (78.9%). Bryce Baker had two 3-pointers, while Imo Essien, Odiahi and Jason Wade each had one. R.J. Blakney was next in rebounds with six to go along with his six points.
Crowley scored a game-high 30 points and hauled in 11 rebounds for Southern Miss. Donovan Ivory had 16 points going 9-for-11 from the line, while Iwaukor added 12 points, 11 rebounds and five blocked shots and Mo Arnold added 11 points and four assists. The hosts were 25-of-54 from the field (46.3%) and that was boosted by a 14-of-24 performance in the second half (58.3%). They were 9-of-18 from 3-point range (50%) and 19-of-32 from the line (59.4%). They outrebounded ODU, 43-33 and had 12 assists to go with 17 turnovers.
ODU returns home for the second half of the MAC-Sun Belt challenge hosting Central Michigan on Saturday at 1 p.m.
