Arkansas beat Ole Miss 93-90 in overtime in the Southeastern Conference Tournament semifinals on Saturday, ending the Rebels’ postseason run and sending the Razorbacks to the conference championship, the SEC said.
Meleek Thomas led Arkansas with 29 points and Darius Acuff Jr., the SEC Player of the Year, scored 24, according to the box score. Trevon Brazile had 16 points and 10 rebounds, and Malique Ewin — a former Ole Miss forward — finished with 14 points and 13 rebounds.
AJ Storr led Ole Miss with 24 points, and Malik Dia, Patton Pinkins and Ilias Kamardine combined for 44 points, the box score showed. Storr tied the game with a layup in the closing seconds of regulation and missed a deep 3-pointer at the end of overtime after Acuff missed a late free throw.
The game swung on free throws and rebounding. Arkansas made 23 of 31 free throws to Ole Miss’ 11 of 14 and held a 13-rebound edge, including 16 offensive rebounds that produced 25 second-chance points, according to game statistics.
Ole Miss, which entered the tournament as the No. 15 seed with a 4-14 SEC record, finished the season 15-20. Arkansas will face Vanderbilt in the SEC championship on Sunday at 12 p.m. CT, the conference said.
Jon Ross Myers is the executive editor and publisher of the Mississippi News Network, Mississippi's largest digital only media company. He can be reached at editor@tippahnews.com
