By Adam Brown
Sports Editor
adam.brown@hottytoddy.com
The Ole Miss Rebels dropped a nailbiter at home last night to the No. 7 Tennessee Volunteers 73-71 in closing seconds of the game.
Ole Miss (19-9, 9-6 SEC) had a chance to push its lead out to two or three points with 10 seconds remaining in the game. Junior Breein Tyree missed the front end of a 1-and-1. Tennessee’s Grant Williams drove the ball down the lane to take the lead at 72-71.
“(Tyree) is just heartbroken after the game,” head coach Kermit Davis said. “We ran a set play for him to get fouled and we were going to call timeout after he made both of them to go up by three.”
An offensive charge was then called on Devontae Shuler, followed by a technical foul on coach Davis. That sent Williams to the charity stripe to knock down a free throw.
Williams finished the night with 21 points.
At the half, Ole Miss led the Volunteers 39-34. Tennessee then came out of the locker room with a 14-0 run.
“We got off to a slow start in the second half, but our team stayed together and ran a good offense,” Davis said.
Ole Miss retook the lead 58-57 on a 3-pointer by Terence Davis. From that point on it was a back-and-forth game.
Tyree and Davis led the Rebels in scoring with 16 points each.
The Rebels went 14-of-15 from the charity stripe and Tennessee hit 12-of-16 attempts. Ole Miss and the Vols finished the night with 32 rebounds each.
Ole Miss looks to rebound on Saturday as they travel to Fayetteville, Arkansas to face the Razorbacks. Tip-off is set for noon on the SEC Network.
