Grabbing the lead one more time with just under seven minutes remaining before falling by three, the Ole Miss men’s basketball team came up short at Vanderbilt on Saturday 74-71 at Memorial Gymnasium.
The Rebels (9-14, 1-9 SEC) stepped out in front early twice thanks to Amaree Abram, as the freshman put Ole Miss on top 5-4 with a three, and 9-8 on a jump shot. A layup from Jayveous McKinnis gave the Rebels a 14-13 lead just before the 12-minute media timeout. The 12thlead change of the first half came with four and half minutes before the break, as the Commodores (11-12, 4-6 SEC) took the advantage into the locker rooms, up 34-31.
The two teams continued to trade punches in the second half, but a late 10-0 run by Vanderbilt kept the Rebels at bay, with a late comeback attempt for Ole Miss falling victim to the game clock.
Three Rebels scored in double figures, led by Jaemyn Brakefield with 15 points to go with a team-best 10 rebounds for the first double-double of this career. Myles Burns scored 12, with a dunk on an alley-oop in the second half pushing him over 2,000 points in his collegiate basketball career. Matthew Murrell added 10 points off the bench in his first game since exiting at Arkansas on January 21 with an injury.
The Commodores were led in scoring by Liam Robbins with 19 points, adding 12 rebounds and seven blocks.
The Rebels will remain on the road, as they travel to Athens to take on Georgia on Tuesday, February 7 at 6 p.m. on SEC Network.
Courtesy of Ole Miss Sports
