Southern Miss. 75, Rice 52

Jan 9, 2013, 10:32 pm

HOUSTON -- Daveon Boardingham scored 16 points and Michael Craig added 15 points and eight rebounds off the bench as hot-shooting Southern Miss defeated Rice 75-52 on Wednesday night.

Dwayne Davis and Jerrold Brooks had 11 points each for the Eagles (12-4, 1-0 Conference USA), who shot 69.6 percent (32 of 46) from the floor.

Austin Ramljak scored 14 points and Tamir Jackson 13 for the Owls (3-11, 0-1).

Southern Miss scored the contest's first seven points and never trailed. Rice was still within shouting distance, trailing 38-27 early in the second half, but a scoreless stretch of 4:48 by the Owls ended the competitive phase of the game.

Southern Miss outrebounded Rice 32-16 and enjoyed a 46-20 scoring advantage in the paint.

Boardingham had seven rebounds.