The University of Mississippi Athletics
Ole Miss
1-0
Southern Utah University
0-1
Ole Miss Holds Off Southern Utah, 69-62
11/19/2005 | Men's Basketball
Nov. 18, 2005
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. - (AP) -- Todd Abernethy scored 16 points and Xavier Hansbro had three 3-pointers in the final minutes to lead Ole Miss to a 69-62 win over Southern Utah at the Jim Thorpe Classic Friday night.
Ole Miss(1-0) pulled away with its 3-point shooting. The Rebels hit four 3s in a row after Southern Utah (0-1) took a 53-51 lead on a pair of free throws by Justin Allen with 4:36 left.
Allen's free throws finished a 13-3 run by the Thunderbirds that erased a 48-40 Ole Miss lead.
Brandon Patterson gave Ole Miss the lead for good with a jumpshot from just inside the 3-point arc and Hansbro followed with a 3-pointer with 3:44 left. Southern Utah cut it to a point on a pair of free throws by 7-footer Fernando Bonfim and Ole Miss countered with back-to-back 3s by Hansbro and Londrick Nolen.
Hansbro hit another 3-pointer with 1:43 left to make it 65-58 and Nolen and Bam Doyne hit four free throws in the final 25 seconds.
Southern Utah, led by Allen with 16 points and Rand Janes with 12, stayed close in the second half despite going nearly 9 1/2 minutes without a field goal. The Thunderbirds scored with 17:21 left and got only four free throws until Lubor Olsovsky's 3-point play with 8 minutes remaining.
Hansbro scored all 12 of his points in the second half and Ole Miss hit 11 of 21 3s in the game.
