Mississippi guard Marshall Henderson (22) exits the court after an NCAA college basketball game in Oxford, Miss., Sunday, Dec. 22, 2013. Mercer won 79-76. (Photo/Ignacio Murillo)
In the last game before Christmas, Ole Miss gift wrapped Mercer a 16-point lead early in the second half. Despite a 22-6 Rebel run that put Ole Miss (8-4) up 67-60 with 6:44 remaining, and a Marshall Henderson three pointer that tied the game at 76, Mercer (8-3) came away with the 79-76 victory as Langston Hall hit a game-winning three with 0.6 seconds left.
“We’re back in a 2-3 zone and the kid just rose up and hit a huge shot,” head coach Andy Kennedy said.
Hall’s shot snatched overtime – and a chance for five minutes of redemption – from Ole Miss. But it wasn’t just the game-winner that led to defeat for the Rebels.
While running along the baseline, Marshall Henderson was fouled with 21 seconds remaining and Ole Miss trailing 74-73. Henderson missed both free throws, which forced Ole Miss to foul.
After Hall knocked down a pair of free throws, Henderson got free to bury a three and tie the game with 13 seconds left.
But the Hall upstaged Henderson.
Ole Miss lacked aggression early in the game. The Rebels shot 27 shots in the first half, only nine came in the paint. The result was just four free throw attempts in the first half, while Mercer, who took 20 of their 29 first half shots in the lane, got 17 free throw attempts in the first 20 minutes and knocked down 14.
Mercer led 41-29 at halftime.
Ole Miss built their comeback with aggression. They forced eight second half turnovers and got to the free throw line 19 times in the second half. They grabbed 10 offensive rebounds in the final 20 minutes.
“We got back in the game mentally. We are an SEC team and we should play like that the whole game. We played our SEC game for 12 minutes,” Sebastian Saiz said.
Kennedy blamed the loss on the inability to finish off Mercer when the Rebels had them down seven. Ole Miss missed four layups, a jumper and a three pointer that could have extended their lead, but allowed Mercer to retake the lead at 68-67.
“Up 67-60. Right there is the game. Forget about the last shot,” Kennedy said.
Hall leads Mercer in scoring for the year and dropped 17 on Ole Miss, but it was Ike Nwamu who beat Ole Miss all night.
“What an incredible game that kid had,” Kennedy said. “We knew coming in he was a driver. He just drove us and drove us and drove us. He put his body on our body and he powered right through and he finished play after play.”
Nwamu scored 24 points on 9 of 16 shooting. He scored all eight of Mercer’s points, while Ole Miss was missing layups, which put Mercer ahead 68-67. It was part of a run where Nwamu scored 11 straight points for Mercer.
Because of Nwamu’s ability to drive and score, Ole Miss had to play a 2-3 zone on the final possession.
“It’s not my preference,” Kennedy said of playing zone. “But they were just back cutting us and face cutting us. (Ike Nwamu) was driving it by us. (We decided) if they beat us with a jump shot, they beat us with a jump shot.”
Ole Miss struggled once again to clean up the boards, as Mercer grabbed 15 offensive rebounds to Ole Miss’ 20 defensive rebounds. Mercer outrebounded Ole Miss overall 39-34.
“That’s the third consecutive game we’ve been outrebounded. It is ridiculous,” Kennedy said.
Ole Miss has now given up 56 offensive rebounds in the last three games.
“We’ve done everything short of breaking out the football pads,” Kennedy said about fixing the problem.
But Kennedy is worried about being too physical with his players in practice, especially with Aaron Jones and Demarco Cox, who missed last season with injuries.
Ole Miss saw its point production come from familiar places as Jarvis Summers led the team with 21, on 8 of 11 shooting, and Henderson had 18, on 5 of 16 from the field and 4 of 14 on threes.
Saiz grabbed a career-high 11 rebounds and Ole Miss had nine blocks as a team, three from Jones and two apiece from Saiz and Cox.
Next up, Ole Miss will travel to Western Kentucky to take on the Hilltoppers on Dec. 30 at 7:00 p.m.
– Tyler Bischoff
tfbischo@go.olemiss.edu
