Field Level Media
Dec 14, 2019
Senior guard Breein Tyree scored a career-high 34 as Ole Miss beat Middle Tennessee State 82-64 in Oxford, Miss., on Saturday afternoon.
Tyree had 25 at half and scored 19 in the game's first 10:26 while adding five rebounds and four assists. The Rebels never trailed and hit a season-high 14 3-pointers. Tyree was 8 of 11 from behind the arc.
Guards Blake Hinson (11 points) and Devontae Shuler (10), and forward Khadim Sy (10), chipped in double-figure scoring for Ole Miss (7-3). Shuler had a game-high nine assists.
Guard C.J. Jones scored 23 points to lead MTSU (4-7) in scoring. Guard Donovan Sims and forward Tyson Jackson each added 14 points.
The Blue Raiders whittled the lead to 10 on a Sims layup with 17:06 left, but never got closer. Tyree's layup 25 seconds later put the Rebels up a dozen again.
Tyree's 3-pointer with 8:19 left -- his final points -- established a career high and put Ole Miss up 72-49.
The Rebels raced to a 9-0 lead, capped by Tyree's 3-point shot. MTSU rallied to cut it to 14-8, but Tyree then canned consecutive 3s from the right side, followed by Sy's layup with 12:28 left in the first half, giving Ole Miss a 22-8 advantage.
Middle Tennessee went to a zone -- a 1-3-1 and a 2-3 -- to try to slow the Rebels, but Tyree didn't cooperate. He split the defense and hit a layup and a foul shot for a 13-point edge at 11:19, then drilled a 3 at 9:24.
That made Tyree 5-of-5 from beyond the arc to start the game. Hinson canned a bomb at 8:45, putting the Rebels up 36-18 and making them 8 of 9 from distance to start the game.
Tyree added another 3 off a ball screen with 6:26 left in the first half. He hit a seventh with eight seconds left in the half, giving the Rebels a 48-31 lead at half.
The win was a 60th birthday present for Rebels coach Kermit Davis. It came against the school where he served as head coach between 2002-18, posting a 332-188 record.
--Field Level Media