Mississippi 77, St. Louis 64

OXFORD, Miss. (AP) -- A balanced scoring effort and a key first

half run helped lift the Mississippi Rebels to a 77-64 win over

Saint Louis Tuesday night.

Ole Miss earned its first win over Saint Louis and improved to

5-2 on the season while the Billikens fell to 4-4, including 1-4 on

the road.

The game was tight for the first 12 minutes of the game as both

teams traded leads.

Momentum shifted in Ole Miss' favor at the 8:39 mark of the

first period when Londrick Nolen started a 16-6 run with two free

throws. Nolen, who finished the night with eight points, had six

points in the run while junior guard Bam Doyne had seven points.

Ole Miss was up by 11 (33-22) when Saint Louis center Ian

Vouyoukas ended the run with an inside bucket. The Rebels didn't

let the Billikens get much momentum, however, as center Dwayne

Curtis scored the final six points on inside buckets to keep Ole

Miss up by 10 (39-29) at the half.

A halftime break didn't hurt the Rebels as they came out ready

to score more. The 10-point lead increased to 24 (67-43) by the

10:56 mark as several reserves saw playing time. Freshman Trey

Hampton hit a 3-pointer and had an old-fashioned three-point play

while Xavier Hansboro and Brandon Patterson each had a trey.

Saint Louis did outscore Ole Miss 12-2 over the final 4:36 to

make the game closer than it was most of the contest.

Ole Miss hit 7 of 15 from behind the 3-point arc while the

Billikens were 4 of 11. The Rebels outrebounded Saint Louis 33 to

32 and shot 57.1 percent from the field compared to just 41.4

percent for the Billikens.

The only area the Rebels really struggled in Tuesday was at the

free throw line where they shot just 40 percent.

Doyne led Ole Miss with 15 points while Curtis and Hampton each

had 14 points. Tommie Liddell led Saint Louis with 15 points while

Vouyoukas had 12 in the losing effort.