Posted on Fri, Mar. 14, 2008
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Georgia stuns Ole Miss in OT
By JIM MASHEK
SUN HERALD
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ATLANTA --
Ten years after the Valpo disaster, the Ole Miss Rebels have been stunned again.Ole Miss forced an improbable overtime with Georgia on Thursday night in first-round play of the SEC Tournament at the Georgia Dome, and it seemed the Rebels might even pull this one out.
Dave Bliss, Georgia’s veteran center, had other ideas.
The Bulldogs sliced through the Rebels’ full-court defense in the final frantic seconds, and Corey Butler dropped a perfect pass to Bliss for an 8-foot jumper that beat Ole Miss 95-93 in overtime.
Ole Miss (21-10) was all but eliminated from NCAA Tournament contention. The Bulldogs, perhaps playing for fifth-year coach Dennis Felton’s job, improved to 14-16 with the hard-fought victory.
Ten years ago, to the day, Valparaiso’s Bryce Drew hit a 3-point shot as time expired to beat the fourth-seeded Rebels 70-69 in the NCAA Tournament.
Ole Miss likely will have to settle for the NIT this time around.
David Huertas led the Rebels with 29 points. Rugged center Dwayne Curtis finished with 26 points. Huertas and teammate Chris Warren hit three free throws each when the Rebels’ backs were against the wall, but the Bulldogs had the final answer with Bliss’ winning shot.
“They’re devastated,” Ole Miss coach Andy Kennedy said. “They should be devastated. We preached all year, you should be a good steward of your opportunities. The team that leaves the fewest plays on the table is usually going to win.
“Unfortunately, we didn’t.”
Warren, the Rebels’ talented freshman point guard, struggled throughout against the Bulldogs’ aggressive defense.
“It’ll take a couple of days (to recover) from a game like that,” Kennedy said. “For me, it’ll take longer than that. We’ll get an opportunity to play again, somewhere … and we’ll try to prolong our season as long as possible.”
Terrance Woodbury led Georgia with 25 points and senior point guard Sundiata Gaines finished with 22. The Bulldogs hit 26 of 32 free throws and recorded eight blocked shots. Georgia also shot 57 percent from the field.
“It was really gratifying to see our players come through in so many tough situations,” Felton said.
None of them tougher than Bliss’ winning shot, although he was open because the Rebels had double-teamed Gaines near the perimeter.
“I just tried to get the right kind of spacing and Corey (Butler) made a great pass,” Bliss said.
Bliss had a key three-point play that gave the Bulldogs a 91-90 lead with 1:23 left in overtime. Curtis hit a field goal just inside the 3-point line that pulled the Rebels to within one point with 15.5 seconds on the clock.
