Rebels overcome poor shooting to beat A&M
OXFORD, Miss. -- Stefan Moody scored 19 points, M.J. Rhett added 11 and Mississippi beat Texas A&M 69-59 on Wednesday night.
Ole Miss (15-7, 6-3 Southeastern Conference) has won four straight. The Rebels led for the entire second half, stretching their lead to 12 points at one point before the Aggies briefly made a run.
The Rebels won despite a mediocre shooting night. They made just 24 of 62 (38.7 percent) attempts from the field and only 6 of 24 (25 percent) from 3-point range.
Texas A&M (15-6, 6-3) had its six-game winning streak snapped. It was the Aggies' longest run of victories in conference play since they were part of the Big 12 in 2009.
Alex Caruso and Tavario Miller led the Aggies with 13 points. Kourtney Roberson added 12.
The Aggies were hurt by 16 turnovers. Ole Miss had just eight.
It was an important game for both teams, which are working to gain quality wins as the NCAA tournament bubble slowly develops. Texas A&M came into the game at No. 31 in the country in RPI while Ole Miss was No. 48, according to the NCAA's rankings.
Ole Miss managed to take a 33-32 halftime lead despite missing its first 12 3-point attempts. Terence Smith made back-to-back 3s late in the first half to break the streak and push the Rebels ahead.
After surviving the early shooting problems, Ole Miss jumped ahead in the second half. Rhett had three early buckets and Moody's short jumper extended the Rebels' lead to 50-38 with 13:38 remaining.
Texas A&M was far from finished, cutting the Ole Miss advantage to 53-50 with eight minutes remaining. But the Aggies didn't have a good night shooting, finishing just 22 of 57 (38.6 percent) from the field as they struggled to keep any offensive momentum.
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TIP-INS
Texas A&M: The Aggies haven't won seven conference games in a row in the same season since it was a member of the Big 12 in 2006.
Ole Miss: The Rebels came into the game making 80.1 percent of their free throws, which is tops in the country. ... Ole Miss came into the game leading the SEC in scoring with 75 points per game. ... Ole Miss guard Jarvis Summers has 1,522 career points, needing just 31 more to jump into the university's all-time top 10.
UP NEXT
Texas A&M travels to Missouri on Saturday.
Ole Miss travels to Auburn on Saturday.