PENSACOLA, Fla. -- — Alfred Worrell Jr. led Southern Miss with 22 points and Deantoni Gordon secured the victory with a jump shot with 55 seconds left as the Golden Eagles defeated Coastal Carolina 66-63 in a Sun Belt Conference Tournament opening contest on Tuesday.

Worrell shot 5 for 10 (4 for 9 from 3-point range) and 8 of 9 from the free-throw line for the Golden Eagles (11-21). Gordon added 12 points while going 6 of 12 from the field while he also had eight rebounds. Denijay Harris shot 5 of 13 from the field and 2 of 4 from the free-throw line to finish with 12 points. The victory snapped a seven-game slide for the Golden Eagles.

The Chanticleers (10-22) were led in scoring by Colin Granger, who finished with 19 points and six rebounds. Coastal Carolina also got 13 points and four assists from Jordan Battle.

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The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar.