Ole Miss has Marshall Henderson but Georgia has Kenny Gaines. Turns out that’s a pretty big deal as the Bulldogs knocked off the Rebels 61-60 Saturday to take over third place in the SEC.
Gaines blocked a Henderson 3-pointer, blocked one of his lay-up attempts and drew a four-point play off the Rebels’ star guard to lead Georgia to an impressive second-half comeback and pull out the victory before a packed house at Stegeman Coliseum. Gaines’ 21 points led the Bulldogs.
Charles Mann — who made one of two fouls shots with 1.5 seconds left for the winning point — added 17.
The victory was the fourth in a row for the Bulldogs (14-10, 8-4 SEC) and gives them sole possession of third place in the league. They were tied with Ole Miss (16-9, 7-5) coming in.
Henderson was good as usual. The volatile guard led the Rebels with 24 points and, like last year, drew a technical in the waning minutes that could have changed the outcome of the game. Marcus Thornton was whistled for hitting Henderson in the mouth with an elbow with 1:55 remaining. Henderson’s free throws and another from Jarvis Summers on the ensuing possession gave Ole Miss a 57-55 lead with 1:52 to go.
Neverthe less, it appeared Gaines may have won it for the Bulldogs when he drained a 3-pointer after Thornton rebounded Nemanja Djurisic’s missed 3. That gave Georgia a 60-57 lead with 46.2 seconds remaining.
But the Rebels’ Derrick Millinghaus answered with a traditional three-point play, drawing Mann’s fourth foul in the lane with 33.2 to go. That set up the final play, which amounted to Mann dribbling the clock down into the final 10 seconds, then drawing a foul on Dwight Coleby with 1.5 seconds to play. He missed the first then made the second.
The Rebels’ length-of-the-court inbound pass went off an Ole Miss player and out of bounds to end the game.
Kentavious Caldwell-Pope came back to Stegeman Coliseum on Saturday to make a presentation to Georgia coach Mark Fox. The Bulldogs could have really used him in a uniform.
The Bulldogs fell behind by 11 points in the first half and went up by 11 in the second before the Rebels rallied to make it a close finish.
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