Rebels Storm Past the Islanders of Texas A&M-Corpus Christi

The Ole Miss men’s basketball team got back on the winning track on Tuesday night by defeating the Islanders of Texas A&M-Corpus Christi 82-63.
As the rain was falling outside the Pavilion, the floodgates opened for the Rebels beyond the arc in the first half as Ole Miss hit their first 8 of 9 attempts. Senior Deandre Burnett started it off, but the Rebels had five players drain three’s during that stretch.
Ole Miss (6-5) also had five players score in double figures in the game. Junior Justas Furmanavicius and Dominik Olejniczak led the way, both scoring 15 points in the game. Burnett was right behind them with 13 points of his own, while junior Terence Davis and Breein Tyree both put in 11 points.
“I thought we put [Olejniczak] in a position early where he could turn and score the ball with his size,” Ole Miss Head Coach Andy Kennedy said. “He’s a big kid, and he needs to play big.”
At the half, Ole Miss took a 50-31 lead into the locker room.
In the second half, the Rebels cooled off from behind the arc but kept extending their lead over Texas A&M CC.
Joseph Kilgore led the Islanders with 17 points.
The Rebels finished the game shooting 47 percent from beyond the arc and held the Islanders to 50 percent in the game. Texas A&M-Corpus Christi hit 46 percent from the field in the game as Ole Miss hit 54 percent on the night.
“I thought we came out and set the tone defensively, and our offense followed,” Kennedy said. “We are not in the relaxing business. Our guys have a tendency to relax sometimes. We are up 25, let’s get up 27. I just want our sense of urgency to continue to increase.”
Ole Miss returns to action on Friday as they host Bradley. Tip-off is set for 6 p.m.

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Adam Brown is the sports editor of HottyToddy.com. He can be reached at adam.brown@hottytoddy.com.
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