Hattiesburg, MS (SportsNetwork.com) - Aaron Brown tallied 24 points and pulled down nine rebounds as he led the Southern Miss Golden Eagles to a 77-68 win over the Miners of Texas-El Paso in a Conference USA contest at Reed Green Coliseum.

Brown connected on 5-of-9 shots behind the 3-point line on the evening for the Golden Eagles (23-5, 10-3 C-USA) as they posted their second straight win. Matt Bingaya pitched in with 21 points and seven rebounds for the hosts as well.

The Miners (20-8, 10-3) were paced by Vince Hunter who registered a game-high 26 points, adding six rebounds and five assists, while Julian Washburn and John Bohannon both chipped in 12 points for a team that had a two-game win streak come to an end.

UTEP led by as many as 11 in the first half and appeared poised to run away with the decision as it converted 56.0 percent from the field, but the team had to settle for a 38-31 edge at the break.

In the second half USM surged back with an impressive 53.6 percent effort from the floor, including 6-of-10 behind the 3-point line, en route to the nine- point win.

The Miners finished the contest with 52.2 percent accuracy from the field, but the squad was just 4-of-14 on the perimeter and turned the ball over 15 times.