Southern Miss 66, Memphis 63

HATTIESBURG, Miss. (AP) -- Charles Gaines scored 17 points and Clement Carter hit two free throws with 7.1 seconds left to help Southern Mississippi survive a furious rally in a 66-63 win Saturday over Memphis.

Southern Miss (8-5, 1-1 Conference USA) led by five, 64-59, with 14.7 seconds remaining when Memphis' Jeremy Hunt made a 3-pointer and was fouled by Jarekus Singleton with 8.7 seconds left. Hunt converted the four-point play and Memphis (9-3, 0-1) trailed by just one, 64-63.

The Tigers fouled Carter, who made two free throws to give Southern Miss a chance to set up its full-court defense.

Memphis was looking to get the ball to its point guard, Antonio Burks, but Southern Miss had Burks covered. That left Rodney Carney to push the ball up court and Carney lost it at midcourt with three seconds remaining to give Southern Miss the win.

Burks led all scorers with 29 points. Hunt had 14.

Down by as many as 16 in the second half, the Tigers slowly chipped away to pull to within single digits with 2:04 remaining. But the Golden Eagles controlled the tempo throughout, forcing Memphis to take long-range jump shots and the Tigers were unsuccessful.

Southern Miss held Memphis to its lowest first-half total of the season, taking a 27-15 lead at the break. The Tigers managed only five field goals in the first half, shooting 20.8 percent from the floor.

Southern Miss shot 44.7 percent from floor in the game.

Greg Johnson had 14 points for Southern Miss.