Evans scores with 1.9 left in OT; Rice beats Southern Miss (Feb 23, 2017)

By AP
Published

HOUSTON (AP) Egor Koulechov scored 26 points and grabbed 10 rebounds, and Marcus Evans made a layup with 1.9 seconds left in overtime to lift Rice to a 72-71 victory over Southern Mississippi on Thursday night.

Quinton Campbell and Kevin Holland each made jumpers as Southern Miss opened the extra period on a 4-1 spurt for a 71-68 lead. Koulechov's layup pulled the Owls to 71-70 with 2:27 to play. Rice missed four field goal attempts, and Campbell and Cortez Edwards each missed 3s before Evans scored the game winner.

Rice (19-9, 9-6 Conference USA) has won six of its last seven, and has nine conference wins for the first time since the 2004-05 season when it won 12 in the Western Athletic Conference.

Campbell scored 18 point to lead Southern Miss (8-20, 5-11), which trailed by 18 with 14 minutes left. The Golden Eagles closed on a 17-7 run, capped by Edwards' jumper with 35 seconds left to tie it at 67 and force overtime.