Ole Miss men’s basketball falls at Virginia Tech

Published 1:44 pm Sunday, December 11, 2016

The Ole Miss men’s basketball team made things interesting late, but the Rebels missed out on an opportunity Sunday.

The Rebels lost 80-75 at Virginia Tech in their first true road game. Ole Miss (6-3) trailed 68-54 with 5 minutes, 5 seconds left in the second half, but the Rebels went on an 11-0 run to get within one possession of a team at No. 37 in the latest KenPom ratings.

Ole Miss got within a point at 71-70 on a layup from Cullen Neal with 1:24 remaining, but consecutive baskets pushed Virginia Tech’s lead back to multiple possessions. The Hokies (8-1) made five free throws in the final 14 seconds to ice the game.

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Sebastian Saiz had a game-high 21 points on 9 of 13 shooting and pulled down nine rebounds for Ole Miss, but Deandre Burnett, the Rebels’ leading scorer coming in at 21.6 points a game, hit on just two of his nine shots from the field to finish with a season-low seven points.

Sophomore guard Terence Davis recorded his first career double-double with 18 points and a game-high 12 boards in his second career start while Neal added 12 points off the bench. Freshman guard Breein Tyree started for the second straight game, finishing with three assists and no turnovers.

Ahmed Hill paced Virginia Tech with 20 points and nine rebounds. Zach LeDay had 15 points while Chris Clarke finished with 12 points and five assists.

Virginia Tech shot 46.4 percent from the floor and 39 percent from 3-point range. The Rebels made 43 percent of their shots but struggled to find any consistency from deep. Davis went 3 of 6 from beyond the arc with the rest of the team combining to go 5 of 21.

The Rebels had 16 turnovers and have committed at least that many in five of their nine games.

Ole Miss will start a four-game homestand Thursday against Murray State. Tip is set for 7 p.m.