Staff Writer

For everything that went right for the Cougars, one thing went wrong - the score.

On a night when they had their season low in turnovers with 15, it was their inability to make crucial stops at the end of the game which enabled Southern Miss to defeat Houston 72-67 Saturday at Hofheinz Pavilion.

The win puts the Golden Eagles at 16-7 overall, 5-5 in Conference USA.

The Cougars (9-13, 2-8) led for most of the first half, but Southern Miss guard Arthur Stapleton hit a 35-foot bank shot which tied the game at 33 heading into the half.

Galen Robinson had a team high at the half with 9 points while Shamahn McBride and Kenny Younger had 8 each.

For the Eagles, forward Kelly McCarty single handedly kept his team close with 14 first half points.

In the second half, the Cougars came out ice cold, hitting only 3-of-14 in the first 10 minutes. This added up to only 11 points while Southern Miss tallied 22 and took a commanding 11-point lead at 55-44.

McBride felt this was the crucial part of the game. "That kind of hurt us to get in a hole like that. We committed some turnovers, and that is what cost us."

However, the Cougars were not throwing in the towel. With the emergence of Younger, who scored 10 of his career-high 18 in the final 11 minutes, UH was able to cut the deficit to two points.

"We just fought and tried to dig our way out of it," said Younger. "We never felt out of the game."

But the deciding moments were still to come with the Cougars down 64-54 and only five minutes left to play. The Cougars shutout the Eagles for nearly three minutes, and they got it down to 64-61 with 2:38 to play.

Then the first of two huge plays by Southern Miss freshman Mel Cauthen sent the Cougars scrambling. Cauthen hit a three-pointer to increase the lead to six with a little over two minutes to play.

The Cougars still were not quitting. Chad Hendrick made a huge rebound and a lay-up. After a turnover by Cauthen, the Cougars were able to cut it to a two-point disadvantage on Robinson's two free throws.

But they would get no closer as Cauthen again came up big, hitting a running 10-footer to give them a 69-65 lead with 30 seconds to play.

Younger would make two free throws to cut it back down to two. But then it was a battle of free throws and Golden Eagle Jimmie Floyd made the critical ones to put the game out of reach.

McBride finished with 16 points, six assists and three rebounds, while Robinson had 15 points and four rebounds. Hendrick had nine points and a game-high 10 rebounds.

For the Golden Eagles, McCarty had 22 points and five rebounds while Floyd had 13 points and three rebounds.

UH coach Alvin Brooks said the team showed signs of promise but could not make the big plays. "We're disappointed, but I was really pleased with the effort and the poise," he said. "We had no turnovers in the final five minutes, and we executed really well at the end. We did all the things that we needed to do to win, but we just missed some easy shots."