Mississippi 74, Mississippi St. 63

2/20/2008 9:23 PM

By CHRIS TALBOTT
Associated Press Writer

OXFORD, Miss. (AP) -With its once-promising season slipping away, Mississippi finally made a defensive stop.

Chris Warren scored 22 points, Dwayne Curtis had 10 points and 16 rebounds and Ole Miss held Mississippi State to 38.3 percent shooting in a 74-63 win Wednesday. The win split the season series and kept the Rebels' long-shot hopes for a Southeastern Conference Western Division title rolling.

Ole Miss (18-7, 4-7 SEC) snapped its four-game losing streak and Mississippi State's three-game winning streak, temporarily halting the Bulldogs' sprint away from the division pack. The loss cut Mississippi State's lead over Arkansas to one game and kept the Rebels alive in the race, though they're still four games behind the Bulldogs (17-8, 8-3) in the standings with five games left.

The Rebels picked up a rare win using its defense. They had five blocks, eight steals and limited the Bulldogs to 26.1 percent shooting from behind the 3-point line.

Ole Miss was especially effective in the paint, outscoring Mississippi State 40-28 even though it only got 25 points from its frontcourt of Curtis, Kenny Williams and Jeremy Parnell. But Curtis had nearly half of Ole Miss' 41 rebounds and helped keep Mississippi State forward Charles Rhodes below his average with 13 points.

Jamont Gordon scored 20 points for the Bulldogs and keyed a quick 9-0 run with two of Mississippi State's three consecutive 3-pointers to pull within four of Ole Miss, 61-57 with 4:47 left. But Curtis scored three straight baskets for the Rebels to help them finish the game on a 13-6 run.

It looked as if Mississippi State might repeat its 20-point win from earlier this season in the opening minutes.

The Bulldogs sprinted to a 23-16 lead on a quick 11-3 run that was started with two fall-away jumpshots by Rhodes. But Ole Miss turned up its defensive pressure and held the Bulldogs without a field goal for 7:29 during a 15-2 offensive rebound-fueled run that gave the Rebels a 31-25 lead with 5:18 left in the first half.

The Bulldogs were 0-for-7 during the stretch without field goals and scored just seven points in the final 12:18. They went 5-for-25 after starting the game by hitting 10 of 13 shots.

Ole Miss pulled down 15 offensive rebounds in the first half, which led to 11 second-chance points and helped the Rebels outscore the Bulldogs 20-12 in the paint. Mississippi State also hurt itself by missing five free throws in the half and 10 overall.

Mississippi State answered, however, holding Ole Miss without a point for 4:51 and cut the lead to 31-30 with 2 minutes left before the Rebels put together a quick 4-0 spurt in the final 27 seconds to lead 35-30 at halftime. They never trailed again.