Georgia loses in overtime to Southern Miss

For Georgia, the first half of the Progressive Legends Classic was hard. The second half figures to be a lot harder.

The Bulldogs fell to 0-2 in the tournament with a 62-60 loss to Southern Miss in overtime Thursday night at Stegeman Coliseum. Now the Bulldogs (1-2) head to New York for the “championship rounds” of this 12-team, four-game event. There, in the sparkling confines of the new Barclays Center in Brooklyn, Georgia will face No. 1-ranked Indiana at 5:30 p.m. Monday. They will play either No. 13 UCLA or Georgetown on Tuesday, depending on who wins their game Monday night.

To say the early outlook for Georgia is bleak wouldn’t be strong enough.

Georgia, which had trailed by as many as 12 points in the first half, stayed on the Golden Eagles’ heels for most of the second half. It got within two points twice midway through it only to see Southern answer with an alley-oop dunk once and a 3-point shot the second time.

Finally, on a pair of Nemanja Djurisic free throws, Georgia pulled within one point, 47-46, with 6:48 to play. Once again, Southern Miss responded with a shot-clock-beating 3-pointer by Jerrold Brooks. But Djurisic answered on the other end, and a frantic finish set forth.

Georgia’s Donte Williams missed four free throws, and the Golden Eagles would get out front by six inside the final four minutes. But after a Kentavious Caldwell-Pope free throw, Djurisic got the Bulldogs back in business.

The junior forward from Montenegro made a 3-pointer at the 1:58 mark then, after a Southern Miss turnover, he made a running 7-foot jump shot to tie the score at 55-all with 1:22. Neither team was able to convert on their last two possessions, and the game went to overtime.

Georgia grabbed its first lead since it lead 3-0 1:35 into the game on a Marcus Thornton putback 22 seconds into the extra period, and went back ahead 60-58 in a Vincent Williams 3-pointer at the 3:36 mark. Southern Miss tied it with a pair of free throws from Dwayne Davis with 2:01 left.

Georgia had several opportunities to regain the lead. But with 31.9 seconds to go, Davis scored on a fast-break lay-up after Williams had the ball stolen by Southern Miss’ Michael Craig and the Eagles led 62-60.

That left the Bulldogs the opportunity to get the final shot. They actually got three, all 3-pointers by Caldwell-Pope. Two misses sandwiched one block and that’s the way the game ended.

Caldwell-Pope led Georgia with 17 points and Djurisic added 12. Southern Miss was led by Brooks with 17 and Davis had 14. The Golden Eagles improve to 2-0.

Donte Williams returned to lineup for the first time this season. The junior did not play in the first two games for disciplinary reasons unspecified by coach Mark Fox. Williams, who started every game last season, was arrested over the summer marijuana possession. However, those charges were later dropped, and Williams claimed later to have passed drug tests.