Felipe Haase’s 14 points and Austin Crowley’s 13 points were enough offense as Southern Miss relied on defense for much of the game in turning aside host Vanderbilt 60-48 on Friday night in Nashville, Tenn.

Southern Miss (2-0) ended the game on a 9-0 run.

DeAndre Pinckney added 11 points and 11 rebounds and Neftali Alvarez had a key second-half stretch. The Golden Eagles won despite shooting only 34.9 percent from the field and making just five of their 24 launches from 3-point territory.

Jordan Wright tallied 12 points off the bench for Vanderbilt (0-2), which began the season with a loss to Memphis earlier in the week.

Vanderbilt shot 32.8 percent from the field and committed 15 turnovers.

The Commodores went scoreless for the final 3:52 after closing within 51-48 on Quentin Millora-Brown’s three-point play.

Crowley’s 3-pointer with 1:39 to play broke a scoring drought for both teams. It was all free throws the rest of the way for the Golden Eagles.

Haase had four of the five 3-point baskets for Southern Miss.

Millora-Brown ended up with nine points for Vanderbilt, also off the bench. Teammate Colin Smith had nine points and 10 rebounds and Myles Stute grabbed 11 rebounds.

The Commodores used a 10-0 run early in the second half to take a 35-34 lead.

But keyed by two baskets from Alvarez, the Golden Eagles responded and went up by 46-39.

Southern Miss led 29-25 at halftime. The defense got the job done as Vanderbilt went just 11 for 32, including 2 for 14 on 3s. From the starting unit, the Commodores shot 6 for 15 from the floor.

A seven-point margin for Southern Miss was the largest lead of the opening half.

For the game, Southern Miss was charged with only nine turnovers.

–Field Level Media