Ole Miss beats No. 21 Georgia in OT on buzzer-beating shot

ATHENS — Ole Miss beat the buzzer and the No. 21-ranked Georgia Bulldogs in overtime on Wednesday night at Stegeman Coliseum.

Rebels freshmen Patton Pinkins scored the game-winning basket in the 97-95 win on a putback off AJ Storr’s miss with 0.2 seconds left.

Jeremiah Wilkinson led the No. 21-ranked Bulldogs with 32 points, but he missed both of the shots he attempted in overtime, as UGA made just 2-of-8 shooting from the field in the 5-minute extra period.

The Rebels made 60 percent of their shots (18 of 30) in the second half, including an eye-popping 9-of-13 from beyond the 3-point arc.

“You can’t just outscore people in this league. We have to be a lot better defensively,” said UGA coach Mike White, whose team entered the night leading the nation in scoring with 96.4 points per game. “They shot 60 percent in the second half, in our home with 10,000 people cheering for us. We gave up layups, and we gave up open threes.

“It’s unacceptable.”

Kanon Catchings had 17 points for the Bulldogs (14-3, 2-2 SEC), who lost at home for the first time this season, snapping what had been a 12-game home win streak.

Storr led the Rebels (10-7, 2-2) with 27 points, and Pinkins scored 18.

The game was tied 87-87 at the end of regulation, the Bulldogs unable to close the game out as they missed seven of their last eight shot attempts, including Justin Ross’ potential game-winning jumper in the final seconds.

Storr forced the overtime, racing downcourt to score on a transition layup with 17 seconds remaining, leading to the 13th tie of regulation.

Georgia held a 40-35 lead at halftime after trailing by 10 and scoring just 13 points at the midway point of the first half.

The Bulldogs made 9-of-18 attempts from 3-point range, led by Wilkinson’s five makes on seven attempts through the first 20 minutes.

Wilkinson missed his first two 3-point attempts before heating up, hitting his next five attempts to dig Georgia out of a hole.

Wilkinson’s first 3-pointer came at the 10:07 mark and cut into the Rebels’ biggest lead of the half, making the score 20-13.

Wilkinson drained his next three shot attempts beyond the 3-point arc, the third of which gave Georgia a 29-28 lead with 4:15 left in the half.

The accurate marksmanship appeared contagious, as Catchings and Justin Bailey followed with 3-point makes before Wilkinson drained another, to extending UGA’s lead to 38-34 two minutes before the teams headed to their halftime locker rooms.

Georgia returns to action at 4 p.m. on Saturday against No. 17-ranked Arkansas (12-4, 2-1).