Southern Mississippi tops UAB 74-59

HATTIESBURG, Miss. (AP) — Cedric Jenkins led Southern Mississippi with 13 points in just 16 minutes of action as the Golden Eagles defeated Alabama-Birmingham 74-59 Saturday in Conference USA play for their seventh straight win.

Dwayne Davis added 12 points to go with seven rebounds, Neil Watson added 11 points and Jonathan Mills chipped in 10.

UAB (8-10, 0-3) led 18-11 midway through the first half before a 10-2 spurt put Southern Miss on top 21-20 with just under 6 minutes left. From there, Southern Miss outscored UAB 17-7 to take a 38-27 into the break.

A Rashad McGill 3-pointer made the score 56-37 and Jenkins’ trey with 5:30 showing gave the Golden Eagles a 20-point advantage, 66-46.

Southern Miss (15-4, 4-0), which entered the game ranked second nationally with 11.8 steals per game, forced 20 turnovers on the strength of 15 steals.

Terence Jones led UAB with 15 points.