Malik Dia scored 19 points and No. 23 Ole Miss used a strong second half to pull away to a 77-65 victory against LSU on Saturday in Oxford, Miss.
Jaemyn Brakefield added 16 points, Sean Pedulla scored 11, Dre Davis and Jaylen Murray scored 10 each for the Rebels (14-2, 3-0 Southeastern Conference), who outscored the Tigers (11-5, 0-3) 49-39 in the second half.
Cam Carter scored 16 points, Daimion Collins had 14 and Jordan Sears, coming off the bench for the first time this season, had 10 points and six assists for LSU.
The Rebels enjoyed a 23-11 advantage in points off turnovers as the Tigers struggled in that area for the third straight game, having been outscored by nine points both times in losses to Vanderbilt and Missouri.
Davis made a layup and Dia followed with a dunk and a layup as Ole Miss scored the first six points of the second half to take a 34-26 lead.
Collins made a dunk for LSU’s first points of the half, but Pedulla scored four points to help the Rebels extend the lead to 40-30. Derek Fountain made a field goal for the Tigers before Ole Miss scored eight straight points to expand the lead to 48-32.
LSU closed within 12 points at 60-48 on Collins’s three-point play before Dia made a field goal and a 3-pointer to help push the lead to 18 with 5:53 remaining. The margin ballooned to 21 until the Tigers closed the game on an 11-2 run.
The first half featured hot and cold streaks by both teams.
Ole Miss scored the first seven points of the game and LSU scored the next 15, the latter surge featuring four points each by Carter and Collins. The Rebels went scoreless for 5 1/2 minutes until Dia scored five straight and Davis added a 3-pointer to tie the score at 15 with 8:02 left.
Carter made a 3-pointer and Collins had a three-point play during an 8-2 run that gave the Tigers a 23-17 lead. Ole Miss scored the next six points to produce another tie before Sears and Pedulla exchanged 3-pointers to make it 26-26.
Brakefield’s layup gave the Rebels a 28-26 halftime lead.
–Field Level Media
