Ole Miss Falls to Samford 75-73

By Adam Brown
Sports Editor
adam.brown@hottytoddy.com

The Ole Miss men’s basketball team fell to the Samford Bulldogs 75-73 at home on Tuesday.

“Our team has struggled to start second half’s this year,” head coach Kermit Davis said. “Give Samford credit. We could not guard them. They played really hard. Tough loss for us.”

Ole Miss (8-4) missed a last-second shot that did not leave Jaemyn Brakefield’s hand in time to count. 

“When he shot it I saw the official go two points,” Davis said. “They played on the (board) and he still had it in his hands. It would have been a nice way to escape with a win, but we weren’t able to do it.”

The Rebels were led on the court by freshman Daeshun Ruffin who had 17 points and five assists. 

Three other players joined him in double figures in Jarkel Joiner (15), Luis Rodriguez (13) and Brakefield (11).

Ole Miss had its biggest lead in the game of 10 points (40-30) at the 1:45 mark of the first quarter. The Rebels took a 42-36 advantage into the locker room at halftime.

Samford (10-2) was led on the floor by Ques Glover with 21 points. He also hit for 50 percent from beyond the arc.

“Samford has a good team they won at Oregon State and they won at our place,” Davis said. “They made some good shots.”

The Bulldogs climbed back into the game after the break to build their largest lead of 61-48 at the 11:52 mark of the contest.

Samford hit 11-of-24 three-pointers for 46 percent and 51 percent from the floor.

Ole Miss returns to action on December 29 as they play host to the Florida Gators. Tipoff is set for 4 p.m. on SEC Network.