Ole Miss freshman guard Patton Pinkins hit the game-winning shot as time expired in overtime Wednesday night, leading the Rebels past No. 21 Georgia 97-95 at Stegeman Coliseum in Athens, Georgia.
Pinkins finished with 18 points on 7 of 9 from the field. Senior guard AJ Storr led the Rebels with 27 points off the bench, his second straight game with at least 25 points. Wednesday’s game had nine lead changes and 16 ties.
Both teams started off 3 for 7 from the field, though the Rebels (10-7, 2-2) surged ahead 16-7 after holding the Bulldogs (14-3, 2-2 SEC) scoreless for nearly five minutes. Ole Miss led by as many as 10 points in the first half but fell behind 29-28 following a 3-pointer from Jeremiah Wilkinson, who finished with a game-high 32 points. Georgia hit seven of its last 10 shots of the half and led by five at halftime despite shooting 39%. Wilkinson scored 15 points in the first half. The Rebels shot 50% from the field in the first.
Ole Miss hit 8 of 11 shots from 3-point range to start the second half and took a 73-71 lead on a fast-break dunk from Storr with just under seven minutes to play. A 3-pointer from senior guard Ilias Kamardine with just over a minute remaining cut the Bulldogs’ lead to 84-83. Storr tied the game with a layup at 87 with 17 seconds to play, and Georgia missed a pair of shots before the buzzer sounded to send the game to overtime.
With the game tied at 95 and about three seconds remaining in overtime, Storr’s spinning jump shot attempt was off, though the ball eventually deflected and ricocheted off hands and the backboard to Pinkins, who was crashing in from the perimeter toward the rim. Pinkins heaved it up from in front of the basket as the clock expired and delivered the Rebels’ first overtime win of the season. Ole Miss sophomore Travis Perry scored all 14 of his points in the second half.
Ole Miss plays at Mississippi State on Saturday at 7:30 p.m. The game will be broadcast on SEC Network.
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