Late First Half Push Carries Ole Miss Past Louisiana

Box Score

The Ragin' Cajuns men's basketball team held Ole Miss to two field goal makes in the first 10-plus minutes of Wednesday's contest at Tad Smith Coliseum in Oxford, Miss., and held as much as a six point lead until the Rebels used a string of nine consecutive field goal makes to reclaim the lead on the way to a 66-54 victory.

Ole Miss (9-1) was shooting 2-of-12 from the field and Louisiana (5-7) led 12-9 as the first half clock neared nine minutes. Dundrecous Nelson buried a three-pointer at the 9:08 mark for the first of the nine consecutive field goal makes that ignited a 23-6 Rebels run that opened a 32-18 lead by the 4:09 mark.

Early in the second half the Cajuns drew within six points at 18:39 as a Josh Brown three-point make on the right elbow cut the Ole Miss lead to 38-32.

The Rebels responded with a pair of field goal makes inside of 18 minutes as a dunk by Murphy Holloway and Nelson floater in the lane extended the advantage to 42-32 by the 17:12 mark.

The lowest the Cajuns cut the lead was eight points, 47-39, after a Darshawn McClellan triple with 14:33 remaining. Nelson made two-of-three freebies at 14:02 to return the lead to double figures at 49-39.

Nelson's free throw makes was the start of a 9-0 Ole Miss run that provided the hosts with a 56-39 lead as the clock dipped under 10 minutes remaining in the contest.

The Cajuns, who trailed by 19 points (63-44) with 7:09 remaining, held the Rebels to three points in the final seven minutes crept within 14 points (65-51) off a Brown layup with 3:43 left to play. UL had chances down the stretch to get closer, but missed a pair of three-pointers and a layup that would have pulled the squad within single digits.

The loss prevented Louisiana from posting back-to-back wins for the first time this season. The Cajuns were coming off a 102-38 win over Dillard on Monday night.

The Cajuns return to action on Saturday in Moon Township, Pa., against Robert Morris (7-3). The contest, slated to start at 6 p.m. (CST), marks Louisiana's final non-conference road game of the season.

UL saw three players score double figures led by 12 points from Bryant Mbamalu and McClellan. Brown joined them in double figures with 11 points.

The Rebels, who picked up their sixth straight victory, were led by a game-high 21 points from Nelson. Ole Miss shot 43.6 percent (24-of-55) keeping the Cajuns winless (0-7) when the opposition shoots above 40 percent.

Ole Miss, which snapped a four-game losing streak to UL with a win in a meeting at Tad Smith Coliseum in November 2006, made it back-to-back wins in the all-time series and cut the Cajuns series lead to 4-3.

Both teams started out with a strong defensive effort with the only points through the first three minutes of play being a dunk by Reginald Buckner at the 19:11 mark.

The Cajuns got on the scoreboard when Kadeem Coleby fed Mbamalu for a reverse layup at 16:43. The Rebels took a 4-2 lead just before the media timeout on a jumper by Terrance Henry at 16:21.

Louisiana grabbed its first lead of the night after Raymone Andrews collected a steal, went coast-to-coast and completed a three-point play at 13:23 for a 7-6 edge. That was the start of a 6-0 run for UL that opened a 10-6 lead by the second media timeout.

Elfrid Payton threw up a backwards shot that found the hoop at 11:01 to extend the Cajuns run to eight points and increase the lead to 12-6.

Ole Miss remained at just two field goal makes as the clock neared the end of the nine-minute mark. The Rebels, though, trimmed their deficit in half with free throw makes.

A triple by Nelson with 9:08 left in the opening stanza ended the Ole Miss field goal drought, which went back to a Henry basket at 16:21, and evened the score at 12-all. Following a Cajuns timeout, a steal then slam dunk by Holloway pulled the Rebels in front 14-12 at 8:49.

A three-pointer by Jarvis Summers and three-point play by Henry stretched the hosts lead to 20-12 by the 7:41 mark.

UL halted a 14-0 Ole Miss run with a triple from McClellan at 6:45 to trim the deficit to 20-15. The Rebels made their next five field goal attempts to fuel a 12-3 run that opened a 32-18 advantage as the clock neared four minutes.

The Cajuns held the Rebels without a field goal make in the final 4:09 and pulled within single digits. On the strength of making their final three field goals of the half, UL used a 7-0 run to slice the deficit to 34-27 at halftime.

Late First Half Push Carries Ole Miss Past Louisiana

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