Gamecocks Fall to Ole Miss in SEC Tournament

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Freshman backup Amaree Abram scored 20 points on 7-for-11 shooting, Jaemyn Brakefield scored 16 points and Mississippi beat South Carolina 67-61 on Wednesday night in an opening round game of the SEC Tournament.

James White added 10 points and gathered 10 rebounds for Ole Miss which had a 41-31 rebounding advantage. The Rebels made 25 of 59-shot attempts (42.4%) including 9 of 22 (40.9%) from 3-point range.

Greg Jackson II scored 24 points for the Gamecocks, Meechie Johnson scored 13 and Hayden Brown 11.

As the 13th seed, Ole Miss (12-20) advances to face No. 5-seed and 17th-ranked Tennessee on Thursday. South Carolina (11-21) ended its season having lost seven of its last 10.

Jackson’s layup with 10:27 left gave South Carolina its lone lead of the second half at 46-44 before Amaree made a 3-pointer 27 seconds later and Ole Miss stayed ahead for the remainder.

Abram made consecutive 3s and followed with a jump shot and the Rebels extended their lead to 61-52 with 4:17 left before a 9-3 outburst by South Carolina reduced its deficit to 64-61 with 1:03 to go.

Following a South Carolina timeout, the Rebels’ Matthew Murrell missed a 3 attempt but White grabbed the offensive rebound and Ole Miss called a timeout with 18 seconds left. White then hit a jump shot for a 66-61 advantage with 11 seconds remaining to seal it.

Ole Miss moved its overall record to 25-22 against South Carolina.

KEY STAT

• Ole Miss shot 55.6 percent from behind the arc in the second half making five of the nine 3s they attempted. The Rebels also received 22 points off their bench, a plus 19 advantage against Carolina (22-3).
• Amaree Abram, who came into the game averaging just 7.7 points per game (6.7 ppg in SEC play), scored 20 to lead Ole Miss.

NOTABLES

• Gregory “GG” Jackson II led all scorers with a game-high 24 points on 50.0 percent shooting (10-for-20). He tied his career-high with 10 made field goals and notched his 25^th game scoring in double figures, and his 17^th game leading the team in scoring. He also collected five rebounds for Carolina in 33 minutes of action.
• Meechie Johnson (13) and Hayden Brown (11) also scored in double figures for Carolina. Johnson led the Gamecocks with five assists, the 19^th time he has done so this season. Brown shot 62.5 percent from the floor and added two rebounds, and three assists.
• Josh Gray led the team with six rebounds, the 15^th time this season he has led the team in rebounding.
• The Gamecocks had a plus six advantage in the paint outscoring Ole Miss 34-28, in the trenches.
• Carolina as a team shot 83.3 percent from the free throw line.

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