HOUSTON (AP) — Southern Miss has one more stop on its six-game road trip straddling New Year’s Day. It’ll be the Golden Eagles’ last chance to salvage something of a stretch that has been, by and large, highly disappointing.

Ako Adams and Jack Williams combined for 22 of their 28 points in the second half and Rice rallied to defeat USM 73-65 on Thursday.

It was Southern Miss’ fourth loss in the first five games of the road trip, and second in a row to start Conference USA play. Southern Miss (5-10, 0-2 C-USA) will play at North Texas on Saturday before playing its home opener next Thursday against Middle Tennessee.

Tyree Griffin led the Golden Eagles with 17 points, 15 in the first half, and LaDavius Draine added 12. The Golden Eagles shot 51.5 percent from the field and hit six 3-pointers in the first half, but were 2-for-9 from 3-point range and shot 29 percent overall in the second half.

“Sixty-five points in a game is not enough to beat a team that’s been good at home,” USM coach Doc Sadler said. “You can’t fault the players’ effort, since it’s completely there, but we’re gonna have to keep looking at the film and keep trying to make some shots.”

Williams, who also had 10 rebounds, scored all 12 of his points after halftime to help the Owls (6-9, 1-1) erase a 44-33 deficit. Adams, who had four 3-pointers, had 10 after the break.

Tim Rowe, who finished with 10 points, opened the second half with a jumper that put Southern Miss up 44-33. After Chris Mullins answered for the Owls, Drew Peterson and Adams knocked down 3-pointers to cut the deficit to three. Rowe scored again but then Rice ran off 11 straight, capped by a Williams 3-pointer, for a 52-46 lead.

Twice with less than seven minutes to play the Golden Eagles got within one, but each time Williams answered, the second time with a 3-pointer that started a 7-0 game-saving burst.

“Scoring has been a problem for us since the first few games of the season,” Sadler said. “We’ve just been unable to get baskets. I told the team at halftime that that was the hardest we’ve played in a long time, I was very pleased with us getting transition baskets. We also held Rice to a good 33 points at the break, and while we kept working at getting good looks, the shots just weren’t going into the basket.”