Tennessee freshman Nate Ament scored 26 of his game-high 28 points in the second half Tuesday night, and the No. 25 Volunteers defeated Ole Miss 84-66 in Knoxville, Tenn. It’s the Rebels’ fourth straight loss.
The Rebels (11-11, 3-6 SEC) were out-rebounded 40-23 and led for just 1:18 in the game. The Volunteers scored 58 points in the second half.
Tennessee (16-6, 6-3) jumped out to a nine-point lead less than eight minutes into the first half behind a trio of 3-pointers. Eight straight Rebels points cut the lead down to one midway through the period, a margin Ole Miss cut the deficit to on two more occasions in the half. Tennessee led 26-25 at halftime behind 10 points from Ja’Kobi Gillespie. Rebels freshman Patton Pinkins led all scorers with 11 first-half points. Both teams shot less than 34% from the field in the first.
The teams shot a combined 9 of 14 from the field over the first four minutes of the second half, though the Volunteers extended their lead back up to 13 midway through the period. Ole Miss head coach Chris Beard was ejected from the game with 6:15 remaining after arguing with officials. An 8-0 run over a 40-second span eventually helped the Volunteers to a 73-51 lead. Ament hit 8 of 10 second-half shots, and Tennessee made 19 of 26 free throws in the second.
Gillespie finished with 20 points for the Volunteers. Pinkins and senior guard AJ Storr each scored 15 points for Ole Miss.
Ole Miss plays at Texas Saturday at 1 p.m. The game will be broadcast on ESPN2.
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