NASHVILLE — Third-seeded Arkansas got 29 points from Meleek Thomas, 24 from Darius Acuff Jr. and double-doubles from Trevon Brazile and Malique Ewen to escape with a 93-90 overtime victory over 15th-seeded Ole Miss on Saturday in the Southeastern Conference tournament semifinals.
Ewen scored 14 and pulled down a game-high 13 boards while Brazile scored 16 with 10 rebounds as No. 17 Arkansas (25-8) advanced to face No. 22 Vanderbilt (26-7) in Sunday’s final. The fourth-seeded Commodores bounced top-seeded Florida 91-74 in the day’s first semifinal.
AJ Storr scored a team-high 24 points for Ole Miss (15-20), which included a basket with one second left to send the game into overtime. Malik Dia chipped in 16 points for the Rebels, who nearly pulled off their fourth upset in as many days. They also got 15 from Patton Pinkins and 13 from Ilias Kamardine.
Arkansas outrebounded the Rebels 44-31 and shot 74.2% from the line, though its 4-of-8 shooting in overtime left the door open for the upset.
With five seconds left in regulation and Ole Miss trailing 79-77, Storr took the ball the length of the floor and banked in a left-handed layup with one second left.
Arkansas never trailed in overtime, but Storr’s drive and dunk with nine seconds left kept Ole Miss in position to win by cutting the lead to 91-90.
Acuff hit the second of two free throws and then Storr missed a 3-point attempt from the right side. Brazile got the rebound and hit the second of two foul shots, which gave Arkansas a chance to set its defense.
Travis Perry’s mid-court heave crashed off the backboard as time expired.
Arkansas built an 11-point lead midway through the first half, but couldn’t put away Ole Miss. The Rebels trailed 37-36 at half after shooting 11 of 15 on layups.
Arkansas held a 70-60 lead with 5:43 to play in regulation after Thomas hit two foul shots.
Kamardine hit two free throws with seven seconds left to get Ole Miss within one.
Two seconds later, after a timeout, Kamardine fouled out, sending Thomas to the line where he hit one of two for Arkansas’s last points of regulation.
– Chris Lee, Field Level Media
