BOCA RATON, Fla. (AP) — Southern Miss moved a step closer to the Conference USA championship.

Daveon Boardingham scored 24 points, hitting 12 of 15 free throws, as the Golden Eagles outlasted Florida Atlantic 60-49 on Sunday.

Southern Miss (25-5, 12-3 Conference USA) moved into a first-place tie with Middle Tennessee, Tulsa and Louisiana Tech with one game to play. The regular season ends Thursday night, with Southern Miss playing at Tulane.

Southern Miss closed out Sunday’s game with a strong finishing kick. It went on an 8-0 run as FAU made just one of its last five shots and turned it over three times in the last 4:22. FAU had whittled a 17-point deficit early in the second half to three, at 49-46 on a 3-pointer by Justin Raffington with 5:30 remaining.

Southern Miss scored seven of its last 11 points at the foul line.

Aaron Brown added 15 points for USM, making all eight of his free throw attempts. As a team, the Golden Eagles went 28-for-37 from the line to make up for a 34.9 percent (15-for-43) shooting performance from the field.

Raffington paced Florida Atlantic (10-20, 5-10) with 14 points. Jackson Trapp and Marquan Botley had 11 apiece, and Tyler Pate added 10. Florida Atlantic was 8-for-31 from 3-point range, and shot 29.6 percent (16-for-54) from the field.