HATTIESBURG (AP) — Tracey Lampley had a 50-yard punt return in the third quarter to key a big second half in Southern Mississippi’s 36-16 win over Memphis on Saturday night.

The Golden Eagles (4-3, 2-1 in Conference USA) shrugged off a slow start, in which they led 10-6 at the half, and scored 20 points in the third quarter.

Lampley’s punt return, the first for any Southern Miss player since 2003, was the first score of the second half.

‘‘It was huge for us,’’ Southern Miss coach Larry Fedora said. ‘‘The great thing about it was we talked about it all week — what we were going to have to do. We had a good plan, and if he hadn’t have put his hand up on the one before that, he probably would have taken it to the house because it was set up.’’

Golden Eagles tailbacks Damion Fletcher and Tory Harrison combined for 122 yards on 30 carries, and Fletcher scored twice.

Southern Miss had plenty of help from Memphis (2-5, 1-3), which committed 11 penalties for 105 yards and had two turnovers.

‘‘I’ll have to look (at what went wrong),’’ Memphis coach Tommy West said. ‘‘We’ve had games where we’ve been good and some games where we’ve been horrible. Obviously, we’ve got a problem with our punt team.’’

Southern Miss dedicated the game to punter Peter Wilkes, who died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound last Saturday in Union City, Tenn.

Wilkes was honored before the game with a moment of silence and the initials P.W. were hung in the north end zone during the game.