Ole Miss Tops SEMO, Rick Ray On The Road

CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. (AP) – Senior Stefan Moody scored a game-high 28 points, including 19 in the second half, as Ole Miss knocked off Southeast Missouri 75-64 Saturday.

The Southeastern Conference’s leading scorer had just 11 points as the Rebels clung to a 3-point lead midway through the second half.

He poured in the next 15 points for Ole Miss over a stretch of 3:04 to push the lead to double figures. Moody finished with 28 points on 8-of-21 shooting as Ole Miss improved to 7-2.

“Moody, for him, did not have a great statistical night even though he finishes with a ho-hum 28 points, but he made the plays that needed to be made down the stretch,” Ole Miss coach Andy Kennedy said.

The Redhawks pulled within 50-48 with 7:21 remaining on Isiah Jones’ third 3-pointer of the half before Moody went to work.

Moody knocked down four free throws and a layup before hitting three 3s in a row to push the Ole Miss lead to 63-52 with 3:51 to play.

The Rebels led by as many as 12 down the stretch. Southeast (0-9) cut it to six with 1:56 left, but got no closer.

Ole Miss, which led by as many as 13 in the opening 20 minutes, took a 35-25 advantage into the break.

Ole Miss dominated on the boards, outrebounding the Redhawks 53-36. Marcanvis Hymon had a season-high 14 rebounds, while Sebastian Saiz added 11. The Rebels had 19 offensive boards, scoring 17 second-chance points.

“I think that’s the best thing that Ole Miss does and I think that’s one of the best things that they’ve always done because they’ve always had an elite scorer like a Moody or a Marshall Henderson that you have to pay so much attention to,” Southeast Missouri coach Rick Ray said. “Then all of a sudden you’re helping, helping, helping and all of a sudden they’re on the glass.”

Antonius Cleveland scored a career-high 25 points for Southeast Missouri. Jones finished with 15 points and Trey Kellum added 10.

“I thought he did a good job of going in there and knowing when to get to the rim and knowing when to get to his pull up,” Ray said of Cleveland. “But I think what it all boiled down to was I thought we had a much better pace of play, which allowed us to be in attack mode much more.”

The Redhawks scored the first six points of the game and held a 10-5 lead 4:24 into the contest before Ole Miss used a 14-7 run to take its first lead at 19-17 with just over eight minutes to go before halftime. The Redhawks were held to just eight points the remainder of the half.

“Knowing preparation for them, I didn’t think anything was wrong with their effort — they’re athletic,” Kennedy said. “(Ray) tries to confuse you a little bit, a lot like what we do typically. They’ve just not been able to make shots at a very efficient rate. Tonight we allowed them to make shots early and it gave them confidence.”