MISSISSIPPI 73, APPALACHIAN STATE 59
OXFORD, MISS. --- Appalachian State University men’s basketball fell to Ole Miss, 73-59, in its first-round NIT game on Wednesday evening at Tad Smith Coliseum. The Rebels’ defense clamped down in the second half and used a 14-0 run to pull away for the victory in front of the hometown crowd.

D.J. Thompson led the Mountaineers with 17 points in his final game in the Black and Gold. Donte Minter and Doug McLaughlin-Williams also scored in double-figures with 14 and 10 points respectively.

Ole Miss was led by Todd Abernethy’s 18 points. Kenny Williams added a double-double with 13 points and 11 rebounds. Ole Miss (21-12) shot 49 percent in the win, while ASU shot 37 percent after Ole Miss employed a zone in the second-half to limit ASU (25-8) to 30-percent shooting in the second half.

The Rebels began the second half with a 3-point, 38-35 lead. Seven minutes into the game, McLaughlin-Williams gave ASU its third lead of the game at 43-42 on a the three-point. The lead switched hands three times in the next four minutes until Ole Miss rattled on 14-straight points capped by an Abernethy three-point to give the Rebels a 16-point, 67-51, lead with 3:26 left in the contest. ASU would get no closer than 12 in the final minutes as the Rebels advance to face Clemson in the NIT.

Ole Miss opened the game with a 7-0 run, and lead 20-10 nine minutes into the game. ASU responded with a 13-3 run to tie the game with eight minutes left in the half. Ole Miss briefly re-established a 6-point lead on an Abernethy three-pointer with 4:30 left. The Apps pulled within one twice in the final minute of the half on buckets from Minter before the Rebels took the three-point lead into halftime.

ASU, which made just its third-ever postseason appearance, finished the season with a school-record 25 victories. In addition, Thompson’s 17 points gave him 514 points this season, making him just the third Mountaineer ever, and first since 1959-60, to have two 500-point seasons in his career.