Mississippi center Dwight Coleby shoots a free throw during Saturdays game against Florida. (DM Photo | Marlee Crawford)
We’ve been waiting all season for Ole Miss senior point guard Jarvis Summers to have his breakthrough senior moment. Nineteen games into his senior year, we finally saw Summers come through in the clutch as he hit two free throws with 3.5 seconds left to lead his Rebels (12-7, 3-3 Southeastern Conference) to a 72-71 victory over Florida (10-9, 3-3 SEC).
“He’s an all-league player,” head coach Andy Kennedy said. “He’s been there before. We need him to carry us in those situations. We had a situation earlier in the year against Kentucky, and he settled a little bit. Tonight, he did a much better job of attacking off the bounce, got it to his strong hand and stepped up and made two huge free throws.”
Summers led the Rebels with 16 points and eight assists in a game that will shine bright for Ole Miss on their NCAA Tournament resume.
“We needed this,” Summers said. “We just need to get back on track. We’ll win one and then lose one, and we’ve got to be consistent. It’s going to start from here.
Florida seemed to be in the driver’s seat early as they controlled the lead at 31-21 with 5:21 remaining in the first half. After trailing 36-30 at halftime, Ole Miss went on a 13-0 run midway through the second half and gained valuable bench contribution from senior Terence Smith, senior LaDarius White and sophomore Dwight Coleby who combined to score 34 points. Those guys stepped up huge for junior leading scorer Stefan Moody, who only scored six points on 2-of-10 shooting.
“We have quality depth,” Kennedy said. “I was playing a lot of guys early, but it’s hard to get any kind of rhythm when you’re playing ten or 11 guys, so we have shortened it to nine guys. Today, we had to go a little bit deeper, and those guys responded, which is not easy to do.”
After a back and forth second half, Florida took the lead 71-70 after two free throws from junior shooting guard Michael Frazier II, who finished the game with 27 points. Immediately following that possession, Summers attacked the basket and drew contact as he attempted a layup that resulted in two free throw attempts. Summers drained both to give the Rebels their 12th win of the season.
The loss remains puzzling for the Florida Gators as they made 12 3-pointers and attempted 24 free throws.
“This was a microcosm of how little room for error there is,” Florida head coach Billy Donovan said. “If you look at the stat sheet, in just about every area, we won the battle. Free throw battle. Three-point battle. But that’s just goes to show you how hard it will be for us unless we can really become a very disciplined, connected team.”
Ole Miss continued to shoot well from the free-throw line as they made 16-of-19 attempts. Ole Miss leads the nation in free-throw percentage at 80 percent on the season.
“It’s our mindset,” Summers said. “We’re just knocking them down.”
The Rebels will host Mississippi State Wednesday at 8 p.m., and the game will be broadcasted on the SEC Network.
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