HATTIESBURG — Southern Miss’ Victor Iwuakor stole the show on Saturday.

The senior scored a career-high 31 points and grabbed 13 rebounds to help the Golden Eagles to their largest win of the season, 86-54 over Western Michigan.

Iwuakor accounted for 17 of Southern Miss’ points during a 19-7 run in the first half and made a 3-pointer at the buzzer to put the Golden Eagles ahead 40-33.

After some back-and-forth action to start the second half, the Golden Eagles (14-11) finally landed the knockout punch.

Mo Arnold made a tough layup in the paint to give Southern Miss a 56-48 lead and spark a 21-0 run and a 27-point lead in only six minutes.

Western Michigan (8-16) didn’t make a field goal over the final 12 minutes and only scored six points, all of which were free throws.

Southern Miss finished the game with a season-high 22 assists and five players scored 10-plus points for the second time this season.

Tegra Izay scored a career-high 13 points in only 17 minutes of playing time. The seven-footer also had three rebounds to help Southern Miss out-rebound Western Michigan, 39-28.

Victor Hart finished with 11 points and went 3-for-4 from 3-point range, while the Golden Eagles went 12-for-26 from deep as a team. Donovan Ivory had four of those to finish with 12 points total.

Austin Crowley also had a double-double with 10 points and a career-high 10 assists.