The University of Mississippi Athletics
Ole Miss Falls On The Road At South Carolina
1/24/2009 | Men's Basketball
COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) - David Huertas tied his season high with 27 points, but Ole Miss fell 82-71 to South Carolina on the road Saturday night. Devan Downey scored 22 points to top South Carolina.
The Gamecocks (14-4, 3-2 Southeastern Conference), who defeated No. 24 Florida on a shot at the buzzer Wednesday night, went on a 26-5 run against the Rebels that started with the last basket of the first half and carried over to the first eight minutes of the second.
Downey hit a 3-pointer with four seconds remaining in the first half to give the Gamecocks the lead for good at 37-35. Dominique Archie and Mike Holmes then led a charge that saw South Carolina score the first 11 points of the second half.
The Rebels (10-9, 1-4) missed their first five field goal attempts of the second half, before Huertas hit two free throws with 16:34 left. Ole Miss didn't make a field goal until the 11:23 mark when Huertus hit a 3-pointer.
"We always seem to have four or five minute stretches where the game gets away from us," Ole Miss head coach Andy Kennedy said. "We've certainly got to continue to work in that area. To start the second half, we had some open shots and we missed them and then we had some poor decision making."
Ole Miss also committed five turnovers during that span as the Gamecocks scored on 11 of 14 possessions. South Carolina never let the lead slip below 11 points the rest of the way.
Huertas was second in the SEC in 3-point shooting percentage at 39.5 percent but missed his first five shots from long range and finished 3-for-11 with a couple of 3-point baskets in the final 2:26.
Archie only played eight minutes in the first half due to foul trouble, then scored all 12 of his points in the second half. Downey and Archie were the only two South Carolina players in double figures but Holmes, Zam Fredrick and Sam Muldrow finished with nine points apiece.
