outhern Mississippi guard Maurice Bolden, left, shoots past Southern Methodist forward Leslee Smith during an NCAA college basketball game, Wednesday, Feb. 29, 2012, in Hattiesburg, Miss. Southern Mississippi won 67-60. (Associated Press )

The SMU men’s basketball team fell to Conference USA’s second place ranked team Southern Miss 67-60 Wednesday night.

During the match-up, the Mustangs trailed behind the Golden Eagles both halves, not gaining the lead a single time.

Despite the lead, Southern Miss (11-4 C-USA) was not able to shut down SMU easily. While the Golden Eagles held a six point lead with the closing of the first half (35-29), the Mustangs came back from the half ready to make some baskets.

Both Robert Nyakundi’s and Jeremiah Samarrippas’s success from behind the arc helped SMU keep up with Southern Miss, who only outscored the Mustangs by a single point in the final half (32-31).

Nyakundi led SMU with 18 points during the game while Samarrippas added 13 to the board.

As a team SMU had a 47.8 percent success rate from three-point range and 45.5 percent from the field.

However, Southern Miss’ 52.2 percent from the field was enough to keep a victory in sight.

Golden Eagle Neil Watson led his team in scoring with a total 18 points, 13 of which were in the second half.

Also putting up big numbers for Southern Miss was Maurice Bolden. The senior guard had a total 11 points to assist in the Golden Eagles’ win.

Wrapping up the regular season, the SMU men will return home to Moody Coliseum Saturday, March 3 to take on the UTEP Miners. Tip off is scheduled for 2 p.m.