HATTIESBURG, Miss. – The ULM men's basketball team (4-13, 0-4 Sun Belt Conference) jumped out to an early 10-point lead in the first 12 minutes of the game, but Southern Miss (7-9, 2-2) rallied at home and captured an 84-67 win on Thursday (Jan. 9) night at Reed Green Coliseum in Hattiesburg, Miss.

"We started the second half with a one-point lead and thought we did a lot of good things in the first half," said ULM Head Coach Keith Richard. "We came out in the second half and gave up five buckets in a row. Our team has a hard time staying in front of drivers to the basket. We started getting some stops midway through the second half and began pushing the ball on the break. We missed some shots down the stretch and it ended up being too much to overcome."

Junior guard Jalen Bolden reached double figures for the 14th time this season with 17 points. Bolden matched his career-high 3-point field goals total and shot 3-for-6 from beyond the arc and recorded a career-high six steals. Coltie Young led the Warhawks with four 3-point buckets and registered 15 points playing in his home state. Jacob Wilson netted 10 points and forced three steals. Makai Willis was one point shy of a double-double with 10 rebounds and nine points.

Southern Miss forward Denijay Harris powered his way to 19 points and 18 rebounds to lead the Golden Eagles to rack up 52 points in the paint. Alfred Worrell Jr. scored 16 points coming off the bench while Neftali Alvarez rounded out the Golden Eagles' double-figure scorers with 14 points.

The Golden Eagles outrebounded the Warhawks by 10, but the Warhawks collected 14 offensive boards, four more than the home team. The Warhawks forced Southern Miss to commit 20 turnovers, which was the highest this season for a ULM opponent. ULM's 13 steals were also a season high for the team. Southern Miss capitalized on 24 fast break points and 25 points from turnovers and limited the Warhawks to seven fast break points and 19 points from turnovers.
 
Bolden sank two free throws and Young swished his second triple of the night to give the Warhawks a 10-6 cushion within the first four minutes. Bolden connected on ULM's third 3-pointer of the opening five minutes, pushing the Warhawk lead to five. After the Golden Eagles evened the count at 13, Bolden made his second 3-pointer and hit two more free throws for his 10th point of the night and completed a 5-0 scoring run for ULM. Bolden again was on target from long distance and Wilson followed to extend ULM's advantage to six points with less than 12 minutes in the opening half. After Youngs third 3-pointer of the night, Southern Miss cut the lead to six after free throws by Alvarez. A bucket by Willis and a steal-and-score by Wilson gave ULM its largest lead of the night, a 31-21 lead, with 8:03 on the clock in the first.

Southern Miss countered with a 7-0 scoring run that concluded with two free throws from Harris. After a flagrant foul called on ULM, Southern Miss scored four-straight points to cut the Warhawks' lead to one point with just over four minutes left in the first. A Wilson basket and two free throws by Bolden pulled ULM back ahead by two possessions, and Wilson drained his second 3-pointer of the half to pull ULM back ahead by six. Harris made a tip-in layup before the final horn of the first half to whittle ULM's lead to one point at the break. The Warhawks knocked down eight 3-point baskets in the first half on 18 attempts.
 
The Golden Eagles recaptured the lead out of the locker room and scored 12 of the first 14 points in the second half. Young delivered a bounce pass to Bolden for a layup that ended a field goal drought for the Warhawks, trimming Southern Miss' lead to seven with 12:37 in the second half. A layup by Tyreese Watson and a free throw by Young brought ULM within six points with 9:22 remaining. ULM kept Southern Miss' lead within two possessions during the middle stages of the second half. The Golden Eagles pushed their lead to 11, its largest of the night, after a 5-0 scoring run that concluded with a Worrell Jr. 3-pointer with 4:31 to go. Southern Miss maintained its double-digit lead for the remaining four minutes.

The ULM men's basketball team will meet the Ragin' Cajuns for the first of two matchups this season on Saturday (Jan. 11) night at 7 p.m. from the Cajundome in Lafayette, La.