GREATER OZARKS MFA

03/11 20:42 CDT Malik Dia scores 23 points, Ole Miss hands Texas damaging loss at SEC Tournament Malik Dia scores 23 points, Ole Miss hands Texas damaging loss at SEC Tournament NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) --- Malik Dia scored 23 points, AJ Storr added 18 off the bench, and 15th-seeded Mississippi knocked off No. 10-seed Texas 76-66 in the second round of the SEC Tournament on Wednesday night. Mississippi, led by former Texas coach Chris Beard, put a dent in the Longhorns' NCAA Tournament aspirations. The Longhorns (18-14) were thought to be among the last handful of teams in consideration for an at-large bid. After losing five of their last six games, their hopes are fading. Texas, which trailed by 11 points at halftime got eight points from Jordan Pope in the early minutes of the second half and it was his 3-pointer that had the Longhorns within 53-48 about seven minutes into the half. Like they did for much of the second half, the Rebels (13-19) answered the Texas push with a rally of their own. Ilias Kamardine scored six points in a 7-0 run that had Ole Miss up by double digits again at 60-48. Texas chipped away over the next six minutes --- mostly at the free throw line ---and it was 66-63 with four minutes remaining. Storr then scored eight points over the final 2 1/2 minutes while Texas only managed a free throw from Dailyn Swain and a dunk by Nic Codie. Texas made 12 of 15 free throws in the second half, 21 of 25 for the game. Kamardine scored 16 points and James Scott had 10 for Ole Miss. Swain had 22 points and 12 rebounds for Texas. Pope scored 16 and Matas Vokietaitis added 10.

Up next Ole Miss moves on to play seventh-seeded Georgia on Thursday. No. 2-seed Alabama awaits in the quarterfinals. ___ Get poll alerts and updates on the AP Top 25 throughout the season. Sign up here and here (AP News mobile app). AP college basketball: https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-college-basketball-poll and https://apnews.com/hub/college-basketball

	Copyright DTN. All rights reserved. Disclaimer.