HATTIESBURG, Miss. (AP) — Christian Watson scored 17 points as Southern Miss beat Bowling Green 77-68 in a season opener on Monday night.

Watson went 8 of 13 from the field (1 for 5 from 3-point range) for the Golden Eagles. Andre Curbelo added 16 points while going 5 of 11 and 6 of 8 from the free-throw line while he also had five rebounds, eight assists, and three steals. Neftali Alvarez had 14 points and went 5 of 10 from the field (2 for 4 from 3-point range).

Derrick Butler and Trey Thomas led the Falcons in scoring, finishing with 17 points each. Marcus Johnson had 14 points.

Southern Miss took the lead with 16:12 to go in the first half and did not relinquish it. The score was 43-33 at halftime, with Watson racking up nine points. Southern Miss was outscored by Bowling Green in the second half by one point, with Denijay Harris scoring a team-high eight points after the break.

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