OTTAWA, Canada — The Ole Miss men’s basketball team completed its Canada Tour by rallying from 27 points down to defeat the University of Ottawa 85-74 on Thursday night.
Ole Miss outscored Ottawa 71-36 in the final three quarters to end their time in Canada with a 3-1 record.
Senior guard Terence Davis had 23 points and 16 rebounds. Devontae Shuler added 15 points, six rebounds, three assists, and two steals. Breein Tyree had 14 points, including 11 in the second quarter to spark the rally.
Freshman KJ Buffen had 10 points and 10 rebounds. As a team, Ole Miss shot 46.3 percent (31-for-67) from the field, including 40 percent (8-for-20) from 3-point range. Ole Miss held Ottawa to 12-for-47 (25.5 percent) shooting in the final three quarters.
The first half was a tale of two quarters. Ottawa hit nine of its first 12 3-pointers as part of a 73.7-percent shooting effort from the field to build a 38-14 advantage.
Another Ottawa 3-pointer to start the second quarter pushed the margin to 41-14 before Ole Miss rallied behind 11 points from Tyree.
Davis attacked the basket for eight points to help the Rebels outscore the home team 29-14 in the quarter. A Shuler 3-pointer just before the buzzer capped a 12-0 run and cut the halftime deficit to 52-43.
Ottawa made 13 3-pointers in the opening half, shooting 54.2 percent from long distance. The Rebels cooled down the Gee-Gees in the second quarter, limiting them to a 27.8 field goal percentage (5-for-18) and holding them scoreless for the final 2 minutes, 55 seconds. Davis’ 12 points and Tyree’s 11 points paced Ole Miss at halftime.
Two free throws by Dominik Olejniczak with 3:28 left in the third quarter gave Ole Miss the lead. Holding its first lead since 8:34 in the first quarter, 65-64, Ole Miss completed the quarter with a 6-1 run. Shuler had five of those points to help the Rebels take a 70-65 lead into the final quarter.
Ole Miss limited Ottawa to nine points on 2-for-14 (14.3 percent) shooting in the fourth quarter. The Rebels scored the first four points to push the cushion to 74-65. The lead grew to as large as 13 that to a dunk by Davis that brought the Ole Miss bench to its feet.
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