Southern Miss. 87, UTEP 78

HATTIESBURG, Miss. (AP) -- Craig Craft and Sai'Quon Stone each scored 22 points as Southern Mississippi beat Texas-El Paso 87-78 Wednesday night.

Craft added a career high 11 rebounds, as the Golden Eagles (14-6, 4-3 Conference USA) beat the Miners (12-10, 4-4 C-USA) for the first time in four tries since UTEP joined the league two seasons ago.

The Golden Eagles went 8-for-8 from the free-throw line in the final 50 seconds to seal a win that gave Southern Miss its first winning record in the month of January in six years.

Courtney Beasley added 17 and Jeremy Wise 13 for Southern Miss, which had four players in double figures.

Stefon Jackson paced UTEP with 20. The loss was the Miners' third straight.

Southern Miss shot 58 percent from the field in the first half, taking a 47-46 advantage at halftime. The Golden Eagles led throughout most of the opening half, with their largest lead at nine with 4:24 to play.

UTEP cut the deficit, making 10 of 24 shots from 3-point range in the first half. But the Miners made just two of 13 shots from long range in the second half, and Wise's layup with less than a minute to play put Southern Miss up 79-72.