OXFORD — Ole Miss senior guard Sean Pedulla’s floater with just over a minute to play Wednesday night against Texas gave the No. 23 Rebels a lead they wouldn’t relinquish in a 72-69 victory at SJB Pavilion. The win snaps Ole Miss’ (16-5, 5-3) three-game losing streak.
Longhorns freshman star Tre Johnson missed a potential go-ahead shot with 12 seconds to play and, after senior guard Davon Barnes hit a pair of free throws, missed a tying 3-point try as time expired. Barnes hit all six of his free throw attempts in the game. Ole Miss trailed by as many as 13 in the first half.
Pedulla led Ole Miss with 19 points while senior forward Jaemyn Brakefield and senior guard Dre Davis finished with 18 points and 17 points, respectively.
“I’d say it was huge, especially the way the last couple game have gone. … Our whole organization kind of feels like we could have won all three, especially late at the end of games, just mental errors, small mistakes that we’re not supposed to be making at the end of games,” Pedulla said. “So to be back in that situation today, at the end of a game, and making the right decisions and kind of see our work come to the court was definitely good to see.”
The Rebels missed their first six shots in the game and trailed 11-2 five minutes into the first half. Following the first media timeout, back-to-back 3-pointers from Pedulla and Davis sparked a 13-3 run that put the Rebels ahead by a point with just over 11 minutes to play in the first.
The Longhorns (14-7, 3-5) then made six of their next seven shots and surged back ahead by 13 with 5:43 left in the half. The Rebels finished the first with a flurry, though, using a 9-2 run to cut the Texas lead to just four at halftime. Pedulla, Davis and Brakefield combined to score 27 first-half points.
Ole Miss started the second half like it ended the first, surging ahead via a 7-2 run to take its first lead since midway through the opening half. The Rebels tied the game back up at 51 with just under 10 minutes left on a pair of free throws from Barnes and took a 54-53 lead on two more Barnes free throws with just over seven minutes remaining. Trailing by three with 2:21 to play, Johnson tied the game at 66 with a 3-pointer from the corner. The teams exchanged baskets on their next possessions before Pedulla’s shot put Ole Miss ahead with just over a minute to play.
With a chance to tie the game, Arthur Kaluma split a pair of free throws, leaving Texas still trailing by a point. Johnson’s eventual attempt at the rim bounced in and out, forcing the Longhorns to foul Barnes. Barnes calmly hit his final two free throw tries and, following a series of timeouts, Johnson’s final 3-point try ended up off the mark.
In a one-point loss to Texas A&M last week, Barnes missed the front end of a one-and-one at the free throw line that could have put Ole Miss up by three or four points late. The Aggies proceeded to hit a game-winning 3-pointer on the other end. Barnes’ clutch makes Wednesday night were not any sort of surprise to head coach Chris Beard.
“You get up there in those moments, and you want to make the free throw. … It’s, have you paid the price to make the free throw? And then, do you have the calmness and the discipline to go through your routine, get your breaths right and all that,” Beard said. “Barnes definitely pays the price. I think that was two games ago (after the Texas A&M game), I leave here and I go over to the Tuohy Basketball Facility like we do every night, and the ball is bouncing, and Barnes is on that free throw line. So, when you see that as a coach, you’re just really proud of that, because that’s how life works too.
“ … It was almost one of those basketball moments. I certainly can’t predict things, but if you would have asked me, ‘Is Barnes going to make these two free throws?’ I would have bet about everything I have on that. Because to me, he earned the right in the past four or five days with the preparation he put to mentally get back in that position.”
Ole Miss hosts top-ranked Auburn Saturday at 1 p.m. The game will be broadcast on ESPN.
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