No. 19 Ole Miss shot 65% from the field in the first half Wednesday at South Carolina and, despite a late rally by the Gamecocks, the Rebels held on in a 72-68 win at Colonial Life Arena in Columbia, South Carolina.
With the victory, the Rebels (19-6, 8-4 SEC) have secured their most conference wins in a season since 2020-21 with six SEC games left to play. It’s the Rebels’ second straight win by four points or less, both coming on the road.
South Carolina (10-14, 0-11) flipped what had been a 12-point second-half deficit into a two-point lead with just over three minutes remaining. But Rebels junior forward Malik Dia put the Rebels on his shoulders late as the teams went back and forth, scoring 12-straight points for Ole Miss over the game’s final 6:21, including a tie-breaking 3-pointer with 2:04 to play that put the Rebels ahead for good. He led the Rebels with 18 points.
Senior guard Matthew Murrell finished with 10 points and moved into eighth place in program history in scoring, passing former star guard and current athletics director Keith Carter. Senior forward Jaemyn Brakefield finished with 14 points, and senior guard Dre Davis had 12.
Ole Miss hit nine of its first 12 shots in the game and used an early 16-4 run to jump out to an eight-point lead less than seven minutes into the first half. Seven players scored for the Rebels in the first, with Murrell leading the way with eight. Ole Miss hit 6 of 9 3-pointers in the first, 15 of 23 from the field and led by 10 at halftime. South Carolina’s Collin Murray-Boyles kept the Gamecocks afloat amid Ole Miss’ hot shooting, scoring 12 first-half points.
A 3-pointer by South Carolina’s Jamarii Thomas with just less than four minutes into the second cut what had been a 12-point second-half lead down to seven, and the Gamecocks eventually trimmed the lead down to a point on a tip-in from Benjamin Bosemans-Verdonk. Thomas’ jumper less than a minute later gave the Gamecocks their first lead since early in the first half. Ole Miss missed 15 of its first 19 shots to start the second.
Dia put the Rebels back ahead on a layup-and-one, the first of 12 straight Ole Miss points from the Belmont transfer that had the Rebels ahead by a point with 1:36 to play. Davis finished through contact at the rim as the shot clock expired to extend Ole Miss’ lead to three with 22 seconds remaining. Brakefield hit one of two late free throws to seal the win.
Ole Miss hosts No. 22 Mississippi State on Saturday at 5 p.m. The game will be broadcast on ESPN2.
You can help your community
Quality, in-depth journalism is essential to a healthy community. The Dispatch brings you the most complete reporting and insightful commentary in the Golden Triangle, but we need your help to continue our efforts. In the past week, our reporters have posted 34 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.
You can help your community
Quality, in-depth journalism is essential to a healthy community. The Dispatch brings you the most complete reporting and insightful commentary in the Golden Triangle, but we need your help to continue our efforts. In the past week, our reporters have posted 34 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.
