Bassey, Savage lead W. Kentucky past Southern Miss 66-63

Jan 25, 2019, 04:48 am

HATTIESBURG, Miss. -- Charles Bassey scored 14 points and hauled down 17 rebounds -- the freshman's ninth double-double of the season -- and Western Kentucky placed five in double-figure scoring to hold off Southern Miss 66-63 Thursday night.

He's had a career-best 17 rebounds in each of the last two games.

Jared Savage also scored 14 for the Hilltoppers (11-9, 4-3 Conference USA), T.J. Hollingsworth added 12, Josh Anderson 11 and Lamonte Bearden 10. Western Kentucky led for almost the entire game, but never by more than 13.

WKU led 34-21 at the half, but Southern Miss opened the second half on a 23-13 pace and came as close as 47-44 on a Leonard Harper-Baker jump shot with 12:20 to play.

Harper-Baker scored 18 to lead the Golden Eagles (11-9, 3-5), and grabbed 11 rebounds. LaDavius Draine added 15 points -- all from distance -- and had six rebounds.

WKU rebuilt its lead to 64-58 going into the final minute- only to score but two points the rest of the way. Cortez Edwards hit a jumper for Southern Miss and found Tyree Griffin for a 3 in the final seconds.