Sean Pedulla made his only 3-pointer in seven attempts with 1.3 seconds left to lift No. 8 seed Ole Miss to an 83-80 victory over No. 9 seed Arkansas in the second round of the SEC tournament Thursday afternoon in Nashville, Tenn.
The Rebels (22-10) will face No. 3 Auburn, the top seed, in the quarterfinals Friday afternoon.
The Razorbacks (20-13) had a chance to break an 80-all tie with 7.9 seconds left. But Trevon Brazile, who had had 15 points and 11 rebounds, missed two free throws, leading to Pedulla’s shot.
Malik Dia scored 19 points, Jaylen Murray had 17, Matthew Murrell 12, Davon Barnes 11 and Pedulla 10 for Ole Miss.
Jonas Aidoo had 17 points and eight rebounds before fouling out, Billy Richmond III scored 15, Karter Knox scored 14 and Johnell Davis 10 for Arkansas.
Trailing 42-34 at halftime, Arkansas surged to begin the second half and tied the game at 53 on Barnes’ jumper with 12:13 remaining. An 8-0 run gave the Razorbacks a 61-53 lead, then an 11-2 run gave the Rebels a one-point lead with 5:55 remaining.
The Razorbacks regained a one-point lead before Ole Miss went on an 11-4 run to take a 73-68 lead. Arkansas made six straight free throws to take an 78-77 lead with 1:23 left.
D.J. Wagner’s jumper pushed the lead to three before Dre Davis’ three-point play tied the score 80.
Dia had seven points as the Rebels bolted to a 9-0 lead to open the game. Aidoo made jumper for the Razorbacks’ first points and that started a 16-5 run that produced Arkansas’ only lead of the half, 16-14.
Ole Miss scored the next six points and, after Wagner made a free throw for the Razorbacks, Dia converted a three-point play to help push the lead to 25-17. Wagner made a jumper before Murray made two 3-pointers to help the Rebels extend the lead to 37-22.
They led by 15 a second time, but Aidoo made two free throws, Knox hit a 3-pointer and Brazile added a dunk during a 7-0 run that trimmed the lead to eight at halftime.
–Field Level Media
