Basketball
Ole Miss Advances in the SEC Men’s Basketball Tournament
By Adam Brown
Sports Editor
adam.brown@hottytoddy.com
The No. 13 seed Ole Miss men’s basketball team opened the 2023 SEC Tournament in Nashville with a 67-61 win over the No, 12 seed South Carolina on Wednesday night.
Ole Miss (12-20, 3-15 SEC) was led on the court by freshman Amaree Abram with 20 points. Abram had two teammates join him in double figures, Jaemyn Brakefield with 16 points and James White added a double-double with 10 points and 10 rebounds.
Abram had eight points in the first half.
South Carolina jumped out to an early 4-0 advantage from the tip. The Rebels came back and scored six unanswered points before the Gamecocks tied the game on a layup by Hayden Brown. Brakefield gave Ole Miss its second lead on a three-pointer.
Ole Miss and South Carolina both traded buckets in the first half.
In the first half, Ole Miss went 4-13 from beyond the arc while South Carolina knocked down 4-9 from deep.
The Rebels took a one-point 30-29 advantage into the locker room at halftime.
The Gamecocks were led on the floor by Gregory Jackson II with 24 points on the night. South Carolina had two other players score double-figures Meechie Johnson 13 and Brown with 11.
Ole Miss opened the second half on a 9-2 run with buckets by Myles Burns, Robert Allen, Brakefield and James White to go up 39-31 at the 16:19 mark.
South Carolina climbed back to take a 46-44 lead at the 10:21 mark of the second half.
Ole Miss got a three-pointer by Abram that made it 47-46 and never relinquished the lead to South Carolina in the last 9:54 of the contest.
The Rebels finished shooting 9-22 from downtown and 8-13 from the charity strip. Brakefield (4-4) and Burns (2-2) were perfect from the line.
Ole Miss out-rebounded the Gamecocks by 10 boards (41-31) and got 22 points off the bench.
Ole Miss returns to action on Thursday afternoon against the fifth-seeded Tennessee Volunteers. Tipoff is set about 30 minutes after the conclusion of Florida and Mississippi State on the SEC Network.