Meechie Johnson hit a deep 3-pointer with 0.7 seconds left to lift South Carolina to a 64-61 win over Ole Miss on Saturday in the teams’ regular-season finale in Oxford, Miss.
After Ole Miss turned the ball over with five seconds left and the score knotted at 61-61, the Gamecocks (13-18, 4-14 Southeastern Conference) had to travel the whole court for the win. Johnson got the ball on the inbound pass and pulled up slightly past halfcourt for a shot that was nothing but net.
Johnson finished with 17 points on 5-for-11 shooting and 3 of 7 from behind the arc.
Nordin Kapic had 12 points while Kobe Knox also had 12 points and added six rebounds.
Ole Miss (12-19, 4-14) was led by Malik Dia’s 22 points and AJ Storr had 13 but as a team the Rebels shot just 1 of 14 from behind the arc (7.1%).
After allowing Johnson to kick off the second half with a 3-pointer, Ole Miss responded with a 12-0 run to take its first lead of the day. The Rebels kept attacking the paint with Dia and Storr making layups and Kezza Giffa’s free throws pushed the Ole Miss lead to 40-37 with 14:39 left.
With Dia dealing with foul trouble, South Carolina was able to dominate down low as Mike Sharavjamts got a second-chance layup and Elijah Strong notched a jumper in the paint. Strong’s 3-pointer on the next Gamecocks’ possession brought the lead to 58-51 with 5:20 to go.
Ole Miss capitalized on missing seven straight field goals down the stretch as Dia made two straight tough buckets to tie the game at 61 with a minute left before the game-winner.
Ole Miss started the game missing seven of eight shots, allowing South Carolina to build a 13-3 advantage.
Dia hit a turnaround jumper and Giffa capitalized off of a Gamecocks turnover to cap eight straight points from the Rebels to cut the deficit to 22-20 with 6:21 left in the half.
Storr made two nifty layups in the final 90 seconds of the half for Ole Miss but Johnson hit a pair of free throws and a jumper with six seconds left to keep South Carolina ahead 34-28 into halftime.
