Ole Miss beats Vanderbilt 56-46

OXFORD, Miss. (AP) — Jarkel Joiner had 15 points and Romello White added 11 to help Mississippi beat Vanderbilt 56-46 in the season finale for both teams on Saturday night.

The Rebels (15-10, 10-8 Southeastern Conference) pulled away to a 34-22 halftime lead with a 18-6 run to end the period. The Commodores (8-15, 3-13) scored the opening basket of the second half, and then Ole Miss scored 15 straight points over a 9½ minute span while Vanderbilt missed eight straight field goal attempts and committed eight turnovers.

Vanderbilt ended the drought on Issac McBride’s 3-pointer with 10:06 left in the game and the Commodores used a 17-2 run to get within 53-44 with 1:54 left.

McBride made 4 of 7 from 3-point range and all four of his foul shots to score 16 points for Vanderbilt. Jordan Wright added 11 points.

Vanderbilt opened the game on a 10-3 run, but Ole Miss erased the deficit at 12-all and never trailed again.

Vanderbilt will play in the only first round game of the SEC tournament on Wednesday as a No. 12 seed facing No. 13 seed Texas A&M.

Ole Miss will begin the tournament in the second round on Thursday as a No. 6 seed facing No. 11 seed South Carolina.

___

More AP college basketball: https://apnews.com/hub/college-basketball and https://twitter.com/AP_Top25