Box Score Oxford, Miss. (December 5, 2023)—Mount St. Mary's battled before falling at undefeated Ole Miss, 77-68, on Tuesday night at the Sandy and John Black Pavilion.  Freshman De'Shayne Montgomery led the Mount with 22 points while Dakota Leffew added 16 points and six assists in the game.

The Mountaineers (2-6) opened the game with the first four points on a Leffew jumper and a Dallas Hobbs drive, but Ole Miss responded with the next nine points to take a 9-4 lead.    The Mount made a push back, going on a 9-to-2 run to regain the lead at 13-11.  Leffew tied the score with a bucket, and then assisted on a Ronald Jessamy dunk to put the Mount ahead.  The Mount evened the score at 22-22 on a Dola Adebayo three-pointer, but the Rebels (8-0) used a 9-to-2 run to grab a 31-24 advantage.  Ole Miss led 37-28 late in the half before Leffew scored four of the Mount's final six points, including a jumper to close the half that cut the deficit to 39-34 at the break.

Jedy Cordilia's drive pulled the Mount within five at 43-38, but Ole Miss scored the next eight points to take a 51-38 advantage.  Mount St. Mary's battled back with the next seven points and a 9-2 run to bring the game back to a six-point deficit.  Frantisek Barton scored four points during the run.

Ole Miss countered with the next eight points, and grabbed it's biggest lead of the game, 66-49, after a Matthew Murrell three-pointer.  The Mount made one more run, slicing the deficit to 67-58 on a Leffew bucket, but Ole Miss was able to hold off the rally for the nine-point win.

Montgomery led the Mount with 22 points, going 9-for-15 from the field while adding four steals and three boards for his second consecutive 20-point game.  He is the first Mount freshman to have back-to-back 20-point efforts since Vado Morse in 2018-19.  Leffew finished with 16 points and a team-high six rebounds while George Tinsley tallied eight points and a team-best six rebounds.  Jaylen Murray led all scorers with 26 points while dishing out six assists for the Rebels with Murrell finishing with 24.

The Mount shot 41.4 percent (29-of-70) in the game, but was held to just 5-of-25 (.200) from three-point range.  Mount St. Mary's held a 37-to-36 rebound edge while posting nine steals and five blocks.  Ole Miss shot 48.1 percent (26-of-54) while connecting on 20-of-25 (.800) at the foul line.

This was the Mount's first-ever matchup with Ole Miss and the Mountaineers are now 0-6 all-time against SEC opponents.  The Mount faces another SEC school in a couple weeks with a road game at Georgia on December 20.

UP NEXT:  The Mountaineers head to Loyola for the 178^th edition of the Catholic Clash.  Tip-off on Saturday is at 5:00 p.m.