OXFORD — Jarvis Summers picked the right moment to have the best offensive performance of his career.
With Marshall Henderson, last year’s leading scorer in the Southeastern Conference, sitting on the bench serving the first game of a three-game regular season suspension, Summers had a career-high 28 points to lift the Ole Miss men’s basketball team to a 69-54 victory against Troy.
“I love to shoot and the ball felt really good in my hands,” said Summers, who had 22 points in the first half. “I came out shooting and thought I would see what might happen.”
Summers was 9 of 11 in the first half, including three 3-pointers, as the Rebels built a 39-26 halftime lead. Derrick Millinghaus added 13 points, 10 in the second half, as Ole Miss controlled the season opener for both schools.
“He was huge. He made some big shots early to settle us in,” Ole Miss coach Andy Kennedy said. “When you’re challenged offensively, you need people to step up and he was tremendous.”
Henderson is also scheduled to miss the opening two games of the SEC schedule in January after he was cited at a traffic stop for allegedly driving without proof of insurance.
The Rebels needed the first-half outburst from Summers. Troy challenged early, pulling to an 11-11 tie as Thomas capped a 6-0 run with a layup with 13 minutes remaining. The Trojans managed only two other field goals for the remainder of the half, finishing 7 of 22 from the field.
Ole Miss answered with an 18-2 run to build what became a 29-13 lead. Summers accounted for 15 of the points in the decisive surge as the Rebels built a 39-26 halftime lead.
The Rebels led by as many as 18 points in the opening five minutes in the second half, 51-33. Millinghaus, with 10 second-half points, hit a twisting layup with 15 minutes, 46 seconds left to provide the game’s largest margin.
Troy pulled to within 59-49 with 7:47 left on a jumper by Thomas, but failed to convert two ensuing possessions to get within single digits. Summers responded with a rare four-point play, converting the free throw after a three-point shot, for a 63-49 lead with 6:39 left and Troy never closer than 12 points again.
“We just couldn’t get it under 10 points,” said Troy first-year coach Phil Cunningham, a former assistant coach at Mississippi State. “We had two huge possessions where we didn’t convert.
But the difference in the game was they just wiped us out on the offensive and defensive glass.”
Ole Miss outrebounded Troy 53-38. Aaron Jones had a game-high 13. The decisive margin on the boards allowed Ole Miss to take 23 more shots than Troy.
“When you get 23 more shots, that’s a big difference on the boards,” Kennedy said. “Aaron was really active and that’s what we need. We were really big tonight on the offensive glass.”
Troy got 11 points apiece from Tevin Calhoun and Kevin Thomas. The Trojans were 17 of 49 for 34.7 percent from the field and 16 of 25 for 64 percent from the free-throw line.
“Our effort was good and we hung in there and gave ourselves a chance,” Cunningham said. “We saw positive things out there tonight.”
Ole Miss improved to 8-0 against Troy and stretched their season opening games winning streak to 10.
n Southern Miss 67, Jackson State 51: At Hattiesburg, the Golden Eagles shook off a slow start to defeat the Tigers in the regular-season opener for both teams Friday night at Reed Green Coliseum.
Daveon Boardingham led all players with 15 points and a career-high nine rebounds. Aaron Brown had four points and Jerrold Brooks had 11. Neil Watson added nine points, a career-high nine rebounds and four assists.
“This felt like a late February game when you are fighting for tournament seeding,” Southern Miss coach Donnie Tyndall said. “It was back-and-forth. Both teams played exceptionally hard. We were kind of taking each other out of our offense and you have to credit both teams defensively.
Southern Miss trailed 31-28 at halftime. The teams traded baskets before Brown’s second 3-pointer of the game tied it at 33. Jeffery Stubbs hit two free throws to regain the lead for Jackson State. But, after a pair of free throws from Norville Carey, Brooks nailed two straight three’s to give the Golden Eagles a 41-35 lead.
JSU pulled to within three points. The teams then traded a pair of free throws, but a two free throws from Brooks followed by a three-point play from Watson pushed the lead to eight. The Tigers cut the deficit to four, but Southern Miss stepped up its defense, holding JSU to just one field goal in the next 8 minutes, 13 seconds, as it went on an 18-2 run to put the game away.
Javeres Brent led the Jackson State 11 points and Stubbs and Julysses Nobles added 10.
Southern Miss will play DePaul at 8 p.m. Wednesday in Rosemont, Ill., in the opening game of the CBE Hall of Fame Classic.
n Oklahoma 82, Alabama 73: At Dallas, the retooled Sooners passed the first test Friday in their attempt to return to the NCAA tournament.
Sophomore guard Buddy Hield scored 18 points and sophomore forward Ryan Spangler added 15 points and a game-high 12 rebounds as Oklahoma pulled away in the final six minutes to defeat Alabama in the season debut for both teams. The game was the opener of a college basketball tripleheader played at American Airlines Center, home of the NBA’s Dallas Mavericks.
Oklahoma lost 68 percent of its scoring from the 2012-13 team that finished 20-12 after a first-round exit from the NCAA tournament. Among the Sooners’ personnel losses were senior forward Romero Osby, the No. 2 scorer in the Big 12 Conference, and junior forward Amath M’Baye, who declared for the NBA draft.
“Most games are going to be decided in kind of that three- to six-minute area,” said Lon Kruger, Oklahoma’s third-year coach. “Someone’s going to make a little run and create a margin that they can play with the rest of the way.”
Spangler played his first game for the Sooners, returning to his home state after playing one season at Gonzaga.
“We don’t want to be down,” Spangler said, “but I think it’s good for our young team. It just shows how much we can fight back and just stay aggressive.”
Alabama is hoping to put together a more impressive pre-conference resume this season than what it compiled a year ago. The Crimson Tide finished tied for second place in the Southeastern Conference but was denied entry into the NCAA tournament in great measure because of early-season losses. Alabama reached the quarterfinals of the NIT and finished 23-12.
Tide junior guard Algie Key, a junior college transfer playing his first game for Alabama, scored a game-high 20 points. Retin Obasohan added 14 points, tying his career high, and Trevor Releford scored 12 for Alabama. Nick Jacobs and Rodney Cooper shared the Alabama rebounding lead with 10 each.
Alabama used a 10-point run early in the first half to build a 26-10 lead. Releford, the Tide’s leading returning scorer from last season, scored five points in the first five minutes but picked up his third foul seven minutes into the game. He sat for the remainder of the half, as Oklahoma regained the lead with 3 minutes left before intermission. Alabama led at halftime 41-40.
Releford committed his fourth foul seven minutes into the second half and returned to the bench for another extended period of time. The Sooners held a 67-66 advantage with 6 minutes, 4 seconds left in the second half when they set off on their own 10-point run, sparked by a Hield running layup coming off a Tide turnover. When Oklahoma was done, it led 77-67 with 1:07 left. Alabama pulled no closer than eight points.
“He’s a very, very big part of our team,” fifth-year Tide coach Anthony Grant said of Releford. “We aren’t going to make any excuses, but certainly we’re a better team when he’s on the floor.”
Alabama junior guard Levi Randolph, who started 67 games in his first two seasons, came off the bench after missing the Tide’s two exhibition games because of a knee injury suffered in mid-October. Randolph played 31 minutes, scoring eight points and grabbing four rebounds.
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