Denver 44, Southern Miss 30

FAIRBANKS, Alaska (AP) -- Denver used a stingy defense and found

its shooting touch in the second half to defeat Southern

Mississippi 44-30 Saturday in the semifinals of the BP Top of the

World Classic.

The Pioneers (2-0) trailed 21-17 at halftime but allowed just

nine points in the second half. Denver will face Illinois-Chicago

in the championship.

Denver shot 35 percent from the field in the first half. The

Golden Eagles (1-1) were not much better, hitting 9-of-24 field

goals -- 38 percent.

Yemi Nicholson ignited the Pioneers in the second half.

Nicholson started a 20-2 run with a turnaround jumper with 15:25

remaining. He scored three more field goals on dunks or short

jumpers to push the Pioneers to a 25-23 lead with 11:14 left

remaining.

After the teams exchanged free throws, Nicholson dunked and

DaShawn Walker hit back-to-back 3-pointers to push the lead to

37-25 with 6:07 remaining.

The Golden Eagles went without a field goal for a 12-minute span

that ended with 4:06 remaining. They shot just 2-of-18 from the

field in the second half.

Nicholson scored 14 points and Walker finished with 13 for the

Pioneers.

Jason Forte led Southern Mississippi with 10 points and Courtney

Beasley had nine.