NASHVILLE, Tenn. — 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.