OXFORD, Miss. – Justin Reed made sure Mississippi kept up its winning ways against Memphis.
Reed scored 17 points, including the winning basket on a 3-point play with 24 seconds remaining, to give Ole Miss its fourth straight win over the No. 22 Tigers.
“This team just refused to die,” Ole Miss coach Rod Barnes said. “We had so many players step up and make key plays for us. I’m really proud for Justin. He plays big at the clutch times.”
Ole Miss (6-2) trailed for most of the second half until Derrick Allen got fouled on a layup and completed a 3-point play to give the Rebels a 66-63 lead with 1:50 left.
Dajuan Wagner made a driving layup over two Ole Miss defenders to cut the lead to 66-65 with 1:38 remaining. Kelly Wise got a tip-in to give Memphis (6-3) a 67-66 lead with 45 seconds left.
After Reed’s 3-point play, Wagner drove the ball down the lane and had it blocked by Allen with 6.7 seconds remaining.
“I struggled until the last 10 minutes, but I hung in there and knew something good would happen,” Reed said. “The last play was that good thing I had been waiting for.”
Wagner, averaging 23.1 points per game, had a great first half, but Ole Miss’ David Sanders kept the ball out of his hands before fouling out down the stretch. Wagner finished with 25 points, and Wise had 19 and 18 rebounds.
“Kelly had a great game tonight,” Memphis coach John Calipari said. “We played with great intensity. We just came up short. We need a couple of other guys to step up.”
Memphis took its biggest lead, 47-40, on a pair of free throws by Wagner with 14:38 left. But Ole Miss went on 23-10 run to take control.
Memphis, which trailed for most of the first half, committed five turnovers in the first five minutes and missed seven straight shots to fall behind early.
Sanders made a 3-pointer with 11:40 remaining in the first half to give Ole Miss its biggest lead in the game at 17-10. Wagner hit a 3-pointer at 11:32 to cut the lead to 17-13, and Wise dunked off a missed shot by Antonio Burks to cut it to 19-18.
Wagner tied it at 22 on a baseline jumper over Sanders.
After a missed shot by Reed, Wagner passed to Barron, whose jump hook gave Memphis its first lead with 5:15 left in the half. Memphis led 35-29 at halftime.
Allen finished with 14 points for the Rebels.
