CINCINNATI - Saint Louis senior guard Phillip Hunt popped in a career-high 14 points as the seventh-seeded Billikens eliminated No. 10 seed Southern Miss 52-46 tonight in a first round game at the 2004 Kelly Tires Conference USA Tournament at U.S Bank Arena. Saint Louis (17-11) faces No. 2 seed Memphis Thursday night at 8:30 p.m. (CT).

"Sometimes the first game in a tournament is the hardest to get, especially when you're the favorite and expected to win" Billikens head coach Brad Soderberg said. "We fought through this game, and now no one expects anything from us, so we'll take the underdog role and run with it."

For the ninth time this season, the Billikens scored 20 or less points in the first half as Southern Miss led 23-19 at the half. But Saint Louis came out of the half with a 7-0 run to take the lead as a Hunt trey was sandwiched between lay-ups by Chris Sloan and Josh Fisher.

"I'm not out there looking to see if I can get 10 shots a game," said Hunt, who was 5-of-9 from the field. "I'll let the offense come to me, and I'll take open shots if they're there. But getting to play more in these last three games certainly has helped my confidence."

Fisher beat the shot clock with a strong drive to the goal, and the Billikens had their largest lead of the game 35-25 with 12:38 to play. Unfortunately, Fisher collected his third foul shortly thereafter and left the game. The Golden Eagles capitalized on his absence to reel off nine unanswered points and climb back into it, trailing 35-34 at the 10:03 mark

USM finally took its first lead of the second half as forward Jasper Johnson's lay-in put the Eagles on top 41-39 with 5:51 left. USM center Charles Gaines, who finished with a game-high 13 rebounds, knotted the game for the last time at 46 with a lay-up with 2:36 to play.

Bryant, who definitely showed his rustiness after being away from the team for four days, buried a threeball out of the deep left corner to give the Bills the lead for good with 1:57 remaining. The Bills survived a flurry of late USM treys, and Fisher and Bryant knocked down free throws in the waning seconds.

Bryant, who returned to the team after missing the Houston game because of his ill father, finished with 13 points. Fisher finished with 11 points. The Billikens shots 41.9 percent from the field, 47.1 percent from three and 57.1 percent from the free throw line.

"We have to let the offense work for us, even though sometimes it doesn't look very pretty," Fisher said. "We have scorers on this team, but we don't have guys that we can just give the ball to and let them go. When we screen and move, we're OK."

Southern Miss (13-15) shot 36 percent from the field, 17.6 percent from the floor and only 53.8 percent from the free throw line. Phillip Hunt had a career-high 14 points for Saint Louis, which wasted a 10-point lead in the second half before rallying. Bryant added 13 points.

Southern Mississippi (13-15) ended its season in turmoil, losing five of its last six games. Coach James Green resigned last Friday, leaving the Golden Eagles to play their last two games under assistant Jeff Norwood.

For much of a ragged first half, Southern Mississippi was the more inspired team, leading by as many as six points. Saint Louis shot only 28.6 percent from the field and trailed 23-19 at halftime.

Saint Louis opened the second half with a 16-2 run highlighted by Hunt's two 3-pointers, putting the Billikens up 35-25. Southern Mississippi tied it at 37 on David Haywood's 3-pointer with 8:15 left.

It was tied six times before Bryant's 3-pointer put the Billikens up 49-46 with 1:57 to play.

Jasper Johnson led Southern Mississippi with 15 points. Charles Gaines, the only player in the conference averaging a double-double, had 10 points and 13 rebounds.