Daeshun Ruffin scored 12 points in his return from a broken hand as host Ole Miss survived some shaky moments and recorded a 62-52 victory over Middle Tennessee on Wednesday night in Oxford, Miss.
Ruffin played 13 minutes in his second collegiate game after getting injured in his debut Nov. 9 against New Orleans. The freshman guard made 4 of 9 shots and scored nine points in the Rebels' sluggish first half.
Nysier Brooks also scored 12 points to go along with eight rebounds as Ole Miss (7-3) shot 36.7 percent and rebounded from shooting 27.4 percent in Saturday's 23-point loss to Western Kentucky in Atlanta and won for the fourth straight time over Middle Tennessee.
Jaemyn Brakefield added 10 points and six boards as the Rebels withstood a difficult night from leading scorer Jarkel Joiner. Joiner entered the game averaging 15.7 points but shot 3 of 14 and was held to nine points to go along with five assists.
Teafale Lenard scored 12 points and was the only double-digit scorer for the Blue Raiders (8-3), who shot a dreadful 34.9 percent and missed 24 of 27 3-point tries. Leading scorer Eli Lawrence finished with one point and was 0 of 9 from the field, including 0 of 7 from 3-point range as the Blue Raiders lost for the second time in its past seven games.
After missing its first eight shots, Ole Miss took a 22-16 lead on a jumper by Joiner with 3:58 remaining. Middle Tennessee was within 27-24 by halftime after Donovan Sims hit a 3-pointer with three seconds left.
The Rebels increased their lead to 50-40 on a layup by Ruffin with 10:39 left and missed six straight shots, allowing the Blue Raiders to get within 50-46 on a dunk by Lenard with 7:42 to go. Ole Miss countered with a 9-4 spurt to take a 59-50 lead on Tye Fagan's jumper with 2:24 left to essentially seal the win.
--Field Level Media
Middle Tennessee St. | Mississippi | |
Teafale Lenard 12 | Scoring | Nysier Brooks 12 |
Josh Jefferson 3 | Assists | Jarkel Joiner 5 |
Camryn Weston 8 | Rebounds | Nysier Brooks 8 |
Josh Jefferson 2 | Free Throws Made | Daeshun Ruffin 4 |
Josh Jefferson 1 | Steals | Luis Rodriguez 3 |
Justin Bufford 4 | Blocks | Luis Rodriguez 3 |
Team | Points | FG% | 3PM-3PA | FTM-FTA | Assists | Rebounds | Blocks | Steals | Turnovers |
Middle Tennessee St. | 52 | 34.9 | 3-27 | 5-6 | 12 | 40 | 7 | 4 | 17 |
Mississippi | 62 | 36.7 | 5-21 | 13-20 | 13 | 35 | 4 | 7 | 8 |