Southern Mississippi coach Larry Eustachy wasn’t surprised that sophomore guard Jeremy Wise reached a career milestone and helped the team to an 81-61 win over Southern Methodist on Wednesday.

Wise scored 22 points in the game, including a 15-foot jumper with 45 seconds to play in the first half that put him over the 1,000 point mark in his career. Wise became the 31st player in school history to score over 1,000 points.

“Jeremy Wise is playing as good as he has since he has been here,” Eustachy said. “I am excited about the rest of the season.”

The Golden Eagles (14-11, 6-5 Conference USA) used a pair of big runs in the first half to take control of the game.

“We were shooting the ball well, but we played pretty good defense also, “ Wise said. “A lot of times good defense turns into good opportunities on the offensive end and we took advantage of that.”

The Mustangs (8-16, 2-9) have lost three in a row and five of their last six.

The Golden Eagles went on a 17-3 run early in the game to take a 23-9 lead midway through the opening half.

The Mustangs cut the deficit to 27-20 thanks to a pair of baskets by Joe Killen, but then Southern Miss went on a 19-2 run over the last seven minutes of the half.

Wise had nine points in the second run, including a 15-foot jumper with 45 seconds to play that put him over the 1,000 point mark in his career. Wise is just a sophomore and became the 31st player in school history to score over 1,000 points.

The Golden Eagles lead 46-22 at halftime and put to rest any hopes the Mustangs had of making a comeback by outscoring SMU 12-3 to begin the second half.

R. L. Horton added 18 points and Courtney Beasley chipped in 13.

Killen paced SMU with 12 points and Papa Dia added 10. The Mustangs played without the team’s second leading scorer, Derrick Roberts, who missed the game for undisclosed reasons