Tops cruise past Southern Miss

HATTIESBURG, Miss. (AP) -- Pancake Thomas scored 18 points as Western Kentucky routed Southern Miss 64-47 on Saturday.

Justin Johnson added 12 points and led the Hilltoppers (12-12, 6-5 Conference USA) with 15 rebounds - tying his career high - for his ninth double-double this season and his fourth straight. Que Johnson had 11 points and three boards.

Que Johnson sank a 3-pointer to cap a 10-4 start for Western Kentucky. Tobias Howard hit two more after that and Thomas had a total of four from distance in the first half to help the Hilltoppers to a 37-20 advantage at the break.

A dunk by Justin Johnson early in the second half pushed the Hilltoppers' lead to 49-27 with 14:33 to go and they maintained double-figure dominance the rest of the way.

Southern Miss made 22 attempts from beyond the arc, sinking just two of them.

Kevin Holland scored eight points for the Golden Eagles (7-16, 4-7) who have lost four of their last five.