Dre Davis scored 13 points and Jaylen Murray hit a pair of key free throws with 3.3 seconds to play as No. 24 Ole Miss rallied from a double-digit deficit in the second half and held on to beat visiting Grambling State 66-64 on Friday in Oxford, Miss.
The Rebels (2-0) trailed by eight points at halftime but roared back over the first nine minutes of the second half, turning around the game with a 20-0 run punctuated by a 3-pointer from Jaemyn Brakefield. Grambling missed six shots and had four turnovers in that decisive stretch.
But the Tigers (1-1) rallied, pulling to within just a point when Ernest Ross poured in a 3-pointer with 3:39 remaining. Ole Miss responded with a tip-in by Davon Barnes and a steal and layup by Brakefield to build the margin to five points. The Rebels held Grambling scoreless over the next minute and pulled away in the final seconds thanks to Murray’s late free throws.
Brakefield added 11 points and Murray had 10 for Ole Miss, which shot just 35.4 percent from the floor.
Mikale Stevenson led Grambling with 16 points. Kintavious Dozier added 15, Ross had 14 and James Flippin scored 12.
The Tigers, the defending SWAC regular season and tournament champions, took the game right to Ole Miss in the first five minutes, riding a hot hand and eight points from Dozier to a 17-8 lead. The Rebels roared back with a 10-0 run capped off by a 3-pointer from Malik Dia to take a one-point lead with 12:26 to play in the first half.
Ole Miss led 20-18 after an alley-oop dunk by Matthew Murrell before the Tigers again took charge, going on a 13-0 run culminated with a layup by Dozier at the 4:27 mark to jump to a 31-20 advantage. Grambling then went almost four minutes without a point, allowing the Rebels to whittle their deficit to 33-25 at the break.
Dozier led all scorers with 11 points before halftime while no Ole Miss player had more than five points. Grambling outshot the home team 57.1 percent to 31.4 percent over the first 20 minutes as the Rebels scored just five points over the final 9:51 of the first half.
The Rebels regained the lead on a three-point play by Sean Pedulla with 13:38 remaining.
–Field Level Media
