No. 15 seed Ole Miss took down the No. 7 seed Georgia Bulldogs 76-72 in the second round of the SEC Tournament on Thursday in Nashville. It marked the first time that a No. 15 seed has started the SEC Tournament with two consecutive victories. The rebels have yet to trail in the SEC Tournament.
Ole Miss (14 -19, 4-14SEC) had three players in double figures in the game. AJ Storr finished with 19 points, Malik Dia scored 17 points and Travis Perry added 16 points.
“I think the first half of tonight was a carryover from the first two halves against Texas,” head coach Chris Beard said. “The best three halves defensively. I like the way we finished. Give Georgia a lot of credit, I like the way our guys fought.”
Georgia was led on the floor by Kanon Catchings with 19 points.
At the 6:00-minute mark of the first half, Ole Miss led Georgia 22-14.
Perry hit back-to-back three pointers to go up 25-16 over Georgia.
“We had a great game plan going in, and our coaches did a great job preparing us for it,” Perry said. “We are getting a lot better at it at the right time and just playing hard.”
At halftime, Ole Miss took a 14-point advantage at 34-20 over Georgia.
The Rebels held the Bulldogs to their lowest first-half score of 20 points. Before this, Georgia was held to 27 points against the Florida Gators on February 11th.
At the 17:54 mark of the second half, Somoto Cyril got ejected with a flagrant two foul on Perry.
Dia scored ten points in the second half with 12:26 remaining in the game, with the score 55-35, Ole Miss.
Georgia cut the deficit down to a five-point game at 57-52 and went on a 20-2 run in 4:30 minutes of play.
The Bulldogs cut the score down to 60-58 with 6:14 remaining.
Ole Miss then went back up by six points, 64-58, before a three-pointer by Georgia to make it 64-61.
The Rebels never trailed in the SEC Tournament in 80 minutes of game action.
Ole Miss will advance to Friday night to take on the No. 2 seed Alabama Crimson Tide. Tipoff is set for 6 p.m. and can be seen on the SEC Network.
NOTABLES
· While Georgia entered the night as the third-highest scoring offense in the nation, Ole Miss held them to their lowest point total and field goal percentage in a first half this year.
· Malik Dia finished with 17 points and is now averaging 19.9 points per game over the last nine contests.
· James Scott pulled in a season-high 13 rebounds, recording three blocks on the defensive end for the sixth time this year.
· Ilias Kamardine helped fuel the strong defensive showing with four steals, a new season-high.
· Ole Miss has yet to trail in each of their first two games at the SEC Tournament.
