South Carolina beats Ole Miss with half-court 3 at the buzzer​

James Reese V drained the half-court heave to down the Rebels on Tuesday night​


Game Recap: Men's Basketball | 2/15/2022 | FRM USC SPORTS& GCF STAFF

OXFORD, Miss. (AP) – James Reese V hit a half-court bank shot at the buzzer and South Carolina beat Mississippi 77-74 in overtime on Tuesday night. Devin Carter's layup gave South Carolina a 74-73 lead with 1:26 remaining in the extra period. Nysier Brooks made 1 of 2 free throws to tie it with 1:04 left, but the Rebels then missed two 3-point attempts. Following a South Carolina timeout with two seconds to play, Jermaine Couisnard got the ball to Reese, who heaved it from the logo for the game winner.

Erik Stevenson scored 17 points to lead South Carolina (15-10, 6-7 Southeastern Conference). Carter finished with 16 points and a career-high 11 rebounds. Keyshawn Bryant also 16 points and Reese had nine. Brooks, Matthew Murrell and Jarkel Joiner each scored 18 points for Ole Miss (12-14, 3-10). Luis Rodriguez had 13 rebounds to go with eight points.

The Gamecocks trailed for most of the second half and by as many as eight, but then used an 11-3 run for a 68-66 lead with 25 seconds remaining in regulation. Bryant sparked the surge with a 3-pointer and Stevenson capped it with two from long range. Joiner's layup with 1.7 left sent it to overtime tied at 68.

Ole Miss closed the first half on a 15-7 run for a 29-28 advantage and stretched it to 49-41 with 11:39 to play.

Story Links​

KEY STATS
> Carolina had three players score 16 or more points. Erik Stevenson (17), Keyshawn Bryant (16) and Devin Carter (16) totaled 49 of the Gamecocks' 77 points.
> The Gamecock defense didn't allow a field goal in the final 2:54 of the game.
> The Gamecocks outscored Ole Miss in the paint by a margin of 42-34.
> Carolina also swiped 12 steals compared to the Rebels' six steals. The 12 Gamecock steals accounted for 12 off Ole Miss' 18 turnovers.

NOTABLES
> James Reese V's game-winner as time expired in overtime was the first game-winner by a Gamecock since Jermaine Couisnard's game-winner to take down Kentucky on Jan. 15, 2020.
> Carolina's Tuesday night victory in Oxford, Mississippi, was their first road win against the Rebels since 2016 and marked their third ever road win against Ole Miss.
> The Gamecocks' overtime win was their first since they beat Georgia on Feb. 26, 2020, and needed the extra period to claim victory.
> Devin Carter posted a double-double (16 points, 11 rebounds), which was the first of his career. Carter's 11 rebounds was a career high.

UP NEXT
> South Carolina will be back at Colonial Life Arena for its next two games. The Gamecocks first host LSU (18-7, 6-6 SEC) on Saturday at 3:30 p.m. (ET) on SEC Network. Kevin Fitzgerald (pxp) and Dane Bradshaw (analyst) will be on the call remotely. It's Legends Weekend for Carolina and the team will honor program greats, with special recognition for the 1971 ACC and 1997 SEC Championship team

The Gamecocks have just five regular-season games remaining before the SEC tournament, beginning with a home game against LSU on Saturday.

SLOPPY BASKETBALL FOR BOTH TEAMS

With a banged-up Ole Miss team riding a three-game losing streak and the Gamecocks losing three of their last four, neither team came into the night hot. It showed. The Rebels and Gamecocks combined for more turnovers (22) than field goals (21) in a chippy first half where neither team shot better than 38%. The Gamecocks led for 16:30 minutes of the half yet couldn’t create any separation. After leading by as much as seven points, the Gamecocks succumbed to turnovers and allowed Ole Miss to go on a 15-7 run and take a one-point lead into halftime.

Turnovers have been an issue for USC throughout the season. While the Gamecocks had cut down on them of late, a series of turnovers many of them unforced helped the Rebels climb into the game. Ole Miss scored 14 points off of 15 USC turnovers for the game.


BRYANT AND CARTER STAY HOT

No player on South Carolina has been hotter than Keyshawn Bryant, who followed an 18-point effort against Kentucky with a season-high 22 points at Georgia. He kept up the pace in Oxford, where he scored seven of USC’s first nine points, punctuated by a one-handed put-back slam. He finished with 16 points. Freshman Devin Carter has developed into another key scorer for the Gamecocks. Much like Bryant, he scores through sheer athleticism and explosion to the rim. After scoring 21 points off the bench at Georgia, Carter continued to make his presence felt, exploding toward the hoop, drawing contact and make his free throws. He made a team-high six free throws on nine attempts, finishing with 16 points and a team-high 11 rebounds. While Bryant and Carter stayed hot, they didn’t receive as much help from their supporting cast until at the very end.

CLUTCH SHOOTING LEADS TO LATE THRILLS

The Gamecocks struggled to shoot the ball from the perimeter for the majority of the contest, making just two of 12 attempts until the final moments of the second half. But with the game on the line, the Gamecocks turned to sharp-shooting senior guard Erik Stevenson, who made both the game-tying 3-pointer and the go-ahead 3-pointer in the last 90 seconds of the game en route to a team-high 17 points. But the Rebels found some clutch shooting of their own in the form of veteran guard Jarkel Joiner, who scored the game-tying bucket with 1.7 seconds left in regulation to send the game into overtime. No shot, of course, rivaled Reese’s last-ditch heave from halfcourt, which sent the Gamecocks spilling onto the court from the bench and celebrating their second-straight win. Reese had missed his other five 3-point attempts on the night