OXFORD – LSU’s Max Mackinnon scored a game-high 34 points against Ole Miss on Wednesday night, helping the Tigers overcome an eight-point deficit with 7:04 left in the second half to send the game to overtime and eventually emerge with a 106-99 win in double overtime at SJB Pavilion. It is the 10th loss in a row for Ole Miss (11-17, 3-12 SEC).
LSU (15-13, 3-12 SEC) finished the game on a 14-7 run. After shooting nearly 51% from the field in regulation, the Rebels hit just 27% from the field in both overtimes combined. The game had nine lead changes and 16 ties.
The Rebels had two chances at the end of the first overtime – jumpers from senior guards Ilias Kamardine and AJ Storr – to win the game but were unable to connect on either attempt. The Tigers outscored Ole Miss 16-9 in the second overtime.
Kamardine led the Rebels with 26 points and 10 assists. Senior forward Malik Dia finished with 20 points while Storr scored 19.
“It’s obviously two teams that are having really tough seasons, lots of adversity. It doesn’t appear like LSU has any quit in them, just continue to be in a lot of close games,” Ole Miss head coach Chris Beard said. “I think the same thing could be said for our guys. So, tonight somebody had to win.”
Mackinnon scored 12 points in the first eight minutes Wednesday night, helping the Tigers to an early 18-15 lead. The Rebels used an 18-8 run to take a seven-point lead with 5:28 left in the half, though LSU battled back late in the period to make it a one-point Ole Miss advantage at the break. Mackinnon was 6 of 10 from the field in the first half, including 4 of 5 from 3-point range. Dia scored 13 points in the first.
The Rebels scored six straight points in just over 30 seconds’ time early in the second half and extended their lead back up to as many as seven on five different occasions in the first 12 minutes of the period. A free throw from Dia gave Ole Miss its biggest lead of the evening – an eight-point edge – with just over seven minutes to play in regulation.
LSU cut the lead to two points by way of a pair of free throws with 2:46 to play, and a short jumper from Michael Nwoko tied the game at 80-80 with 1:38 remaining. Ole Miss sophomore forward Corey Chest’s go-ahead dunk was followed by LSU free throws that tied the game at 82 with 15 seconds to play. The Rebels missed a pair of shots in the final five seconds of regulation.
The teams went blow for blow to start the first overtime, and a layup by LSU’s Robert Miller III tied the game at 88 apiece with just over a minute to play. Storr missed a shot at the buzzer with the game tied at 90, sending the game to a second overtime.
Ole Miss missed 6 of 8 shots from the field in the second extra period.
“Something had to break for one of them (the teams) tonight,” Beard said. “We had a couple of dumb fouls at the end of the game. And again, we had the ball in our hands, two chances to win it tonight and didn’t get it done.”
Ole Miss plays at Auburn Saturday at 7:30 p.m. The game will be broadcast on SEC Network.
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