CHRIS WARREN AND THE REBELS ADVANCE PAST THE GAMECOCKS

Chris Warren scored 20 points to lead the Ole Miss Rebels past South Carolina. As expected, this afternoon’s first round matchup between South Carolina and Ole Miss was evenly matched and predictably boring. Both teams came out in zone defense and shot equally terrible in the first five minutes. South Carolina took an early four point lead. Then Chris Warren finally removed the lid from the bucket with a three point field goal that led to a 5-0 Ole Miss run. Old Miss continued to crowd the paint with its two-three zone, and let South Carolina miss jumpers from the perimeter. The Rebels did a good job rebounding the ball after the Gamecocks’ missed shots and pushed the ball down the court very efficiently.

After a 6.5 minute field goal drought, Ellington knocked down three for South Carolina. Then Nelson, in his first SEC tournament appearance, hit a pair of threes for Old Miss. The Gamecocks continued to struggle from the perimeter. With 8 minutes left in the first half, Carolina had as many turnovers as field goals and only five field goals after 14 minutes of play. In a desperate effort to get his team going, Coach Horn switched to a half court trap that forced back to back turnovers, and sparked a 9-0 Carolina run. South Carolina continued to penetrate the Rebel’s zone and cut the14 point lead to 4, with 4:30 left in the first half. As soon as Ole Miss came out of the zone and went man-to-man, Carolina cut the lead to 1 point. Coach Horn then put his team in a half court trap defense that ultimately left the Rebels with seven turnovers at the half. After being down 24-10, the Gamecocks were able to claw back to within four points at halftime. The Rebels went into the tunnel with a 30-26 lead.

The second half began with an 8-0 run by Ole Miss. It was 4 minutes before Carolina scored its first three point shot (after many attempts). Then Ole Miss went back to its stifling zone defense and waited for Carolina to chuck their bricks from outside. With 12 minutes left in the game, Carolina went back to its press and began to generate some turnovers. The press spurred a 9-0 Carolina run lead by Galloway that cut the Rebel’s lead to 5 points. With 9 minutes remaining, Carolina went man-to-man and fell back into relax mode. This allowed Ole miss to go on a 6-0 run and reestablish an 11 point lead with 6:43 left in the game. In a last ditch effort, Carolina went back to their press, but Ole Miss broke it with ease, and extended their lead to 14 points with 5:00 to go. Finally, Chris Warren took control of the game with 4:00 left and continued draining the clock. Although Carolina’s Galloway hit several threes down the stretch (he ended with five threes in the second half), the Rebels were never really threatened. The final score was 66 – 55 and the Ole Miss Rebels advances to the quarter finals to take on the Big Blue Nation in Catlanta.

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