HATTIESBURG, Miss. (AP) -- Dwane Brown made a lay-up with two minutes remaining to lift Southern Mississippi to a 61-60 win over Tulane on Saturday, snapping a six-game losing streak.
Rashaad Carruth and Michael Ford led the way with 19 points each for Southern Mississippi (10-8, 1-5 Conference USA), which last won Dec. 28 against William Carey, an NAIA school.
Quincy Davis scored 18 points for Tulane (7-10, 1-5).
Brown's lay-up gave Southern Miss a 61-56 lead, but two free-throws from Tulane's Ben Benfield made the score 61-58 with 1:36 left. Southern Miss had a chance to seal the win in the final minute, but Ford missed a turnaround jumper with 45 seconds left and committed a turnover with 10.3 seconds remaining.
That gave Tulane another chance, but Taylor Rochestie missed a game-tying 3-pointer and David Gomez scored on the missed shot with little time left for another shot.
Southern Miss won without its leading scorer and rebounder, Jasper Johnson who averaged 15.5 points and 7.4 rebounds per game. Johnson was dismissed from the team by first-year coach Larry Eustachy who said Johnson "never bought into the system."
Southern Miss fought back from a second-half deficit, tying the game at 43 on two free throws from Dante Stiggers with 10:34 remaining. The Golden Eagles took their largest lead of five on two occasions, on a 3-point basket by Carruth with 2:45 to play, and again on Brown's lay-up.
Tulane led 28-25 at halftime.
