South Carolina’s James Reese V banked in a half-court shot at the buzzer as the Gamecocks stunned Ole Miss 77-74 in overtime Tuesday in Oxford, Miss.
With less than two seconds remaining in overtime, Jermaine Couisnard fired an inbounds pass half of the court to Reese, who snared it and launched the game winner with Ole Miss traffic around him.
The win was the first for South Carolina (15-10, 6-7 Southeastern Conference) in Oxford since Jan. 19, 2016 — also a 77-74 overtime victory — when the Gamecocks were ranked 18th.
South Carolina is 3-15 all-time at Ole Miss.
In their only meeting of the regular season, Ole Miss (12-14, 3-10) led South Carolina by as many as eight in the second half before Erik Stevenson tied it at 65 with a trey with 1:24 to play.
Stevenson canned another from long distance with 25 seconds left for a 68-66 lead after an Ole Miss free throw, but Jarkel Joiner knotted it with a bucket in the lane with 1.7 seconds left to force overtime.
Stevenson tallied 17 points and six rebounds. Devin Carter had a double-double with 16 points and 11 rebounds, and Keyshawn Bryant recorded 16 points and seven boards.
Joiner, Matthew Murrell and Nysier Brooks each scored 18 points for Ole Miss, which lost its fourth straight. Luis Rodriguez recorded eight points and 13 rebounds.
After scoring 40 points over his previous two games, Bryant continued to have the scoring touch early, collecting seven points as South Carolina lead 9-5 just four minutes into the game.
In the opening 20 minutes, the Gamecocks led by as many as seven — 21-14 with just under six minutes to play — but Ole Miss got four points from seldom-used Sammy Hunter off the bench to close strong.
The Rebels outscored the visitors 15-7 to end with a 29-28 advantage.
Brooks topped the home side with nine points on 4 of 6 shooting, and Murrell chipped in seven.
The Gamecocks also did not light it up from the field, and Carter led them with nine points.
–Field Level Media
