PENSACOLA, Fla. — Southern Miss’ simple seven-step plan to shock the world and reach the NCAA Tournament only made it to step two before fizzling.

Tyson Brown had a double-double with 14 points and 12 rebounds, and five players scored in double figures for Georgia Southern as it defeated Southern Miss 78-64 in the second round of the Sun Belt Conference men’s basketball tournament on Wednesday.

Southern Miss (11-22) beat Coastal Carolina in the first round of the Sun Belt’s unique gauntlet-style tournament. It had to climb the ladder and achieve the difficult task of winning seven games in seven days to earn the league’s automatic NCAA Tournament bid, but could only make it one more round.

No. 9 seed Georgia Southern (17-15) advanced to face No. 8 Georgia State on Thursday. The winner of that game moves on to face No. 5 Marshall, which has a bye into the fourth round.

Georgia Southern shot 70 percent from the floor in the second half to pull away. Brown was joined in double figures by Eren Banks with 16 points, Bradley Douglas and Nakavieon White with 14 each, and Adante’ Holiman with 11 points and five assists.

Southern Miss went six minutes without scoring and eight minutes without a field goal in the first half. After trading baskets for the first five minutes, USM did not lead again after falling behind 11-9 with 13:25 remaining.

Georgia Southern led 33-24 at halftime, and by at least 10 points for the last 19 1/2 minutes of the game. A 12-2 run pushed its lead to 47-28 with 15:11 to go.

Denijay Harris led Southern Miss in scoring for the 15th time this season. He finished with 14 points after going 6-for-11 from the field, and ended his college career with 956 points.

Christian Watson made three 3-pointers and scored 11 points. Alfred Worrell Jr. scored 12 points after going for a career-high 22 in the first-round win against Coastal Carolina.