MONROE, La. — Southern Miss picked up the pace in the second half and finally pulled away from Louisiana-Monroe.

Donovan Ivory finished with 22 points and Austin Crowley scored 20, and the Golden Eagles shook off a sluggish first-half performance to beat Louisiana-Monroe 71-58 on Thursday.

Southern Miss (9-7, 3-1 Sun Belt Conference) only shot 32.3 percent in the first half and did not hit a 3-pointer. The Golden Eagles trailed 26-18 with 5 1/2 minutes left, but closed with a 10-3 run capped by a huge dunk from Victor Hart to pull within a point heading into halftime. Another 10-3 surge coming out of the break gave them the lead for good.

Louisiana-Monroe (4-10, 0-4) closed to within three points on a jumper by Tyreke Locure with 3:52 remaining in the game, and then Southern Miss had one last run to put away the victory.

Ivory scored four straight points, followed by 3-pointers from Crowley and Cobie Montgomery to make it 67-56 with 1:41 to go.

Hart finished with a double-double for Southern Miss, with 11 points and a career-high 14 rebounds. Montgomery scored 12 points.

Tegra Izay had five of Southern Miss’ 10 blocked shots. It was the first time the Golden Eagles have reached double figures in blocks since 2009.

Jalen Bolden had a double-double for Louisiana-Monroe, with 13 points and 10 rebounds.

Southern Miss won its third game in a row. It’ll stay on the road to play Troy on Saturday at 4 p.m. The game will be streamed on ESPN+.

Alcorn State 74, Alabama A&M 71
Stephen Byard made two baskets during a decisive 6-0 spurt late in the second half, and Alcorn State snapped a 13-game losing streak by beating Alabama A&M on Thursday.

Byard’s layup broke a 65-65 tie with 1:37 remaining, and he made another with 53 seconds to go. In between, Jeremiah Gambrell had a steal and fast-break layup as the Braves took a 71-65 lead and never trailed after that.

Byard finished with eight points and Gambrell had 10. Jeremiah Kendall had a double-double for Alcorn with 15 points and 13 rebounds. Byron Joshua added 12 points and six assists.

Dailin Smith scored a game-high 17 points for Alabama A&M (3-13, 2-1 Southwestern Athletic Conference).

Alcorn (2-13, 1-1) won for the first time since beating Xavier (La.) in its season opener in November. It’ll stay in Alabama to play Alabama State Saturday at 4 p.m.

Jackson State 73, Alabama State 63
Ken Evans Jr., Jordan O’Neal and Chase Adams combined to score 56 of Jackson State’s 73 total points as the Tigers knocked off Alabama State on the road on Thursday.

Evans had 24 points and five steals to lead the Tigers (6-9, 2-0 SWAC). O’Neal added 16 points, nine rebounds and five blocks, while Adams chipped in with 16 points, six assists, and four steals.

Zeke Cook also had eight points and 14 rebounds for Jackson State.

Jackson State used a 16-0 run in the first half, with Evans providing seven of the points, to take a 38-24 lead into halftime. Alabama State rallied in the second half to get within 44-42 on a 3-pointer by Isaiah Range with 12:19 remaining.

Jackson State regrouped after that, however, and responded with a 16-4 run that restored the lead to double digits. A dunk by O’Neal made it 60-46 with 6:52 left.

Jackson State will stay on the road to play Alabama A&M Saturday at 5 p.m.