COLUMBIA, Mo. – Mizzou Men's Basketball (8-13, 1-8) dropped a hard-fought game to Ole Miss (14-8, 4-5), falling by a score of 76-73 Thursday night at Mizzou Arena. The Tigers led by four points with 1:05 left in the game after a jumper by junior guard Wes Clark, who finished with 20 points for his fourth game this season with 20 points or more.
Clark was a perfect 10-of-10 from the free throw line, the first time this season a Tiger has sank 10 attempts from the charity stripe. He shot 4-of-7 from the field (2-of-3 3PT), while also recording four rebounds, five assists and two steals.
Joining Clark in double figures were freshman guard Terrence Phillips and sophomore guard Namon Wright, who had 14 and 12 points, respectively. Wright led the Tigers in rebounding for the second-straight game with eight boards, while Phillips recorded a season-high five steals. Freshman guard Cullen VanLeer also chipped in 10 points off the bench, shooting 2-of-6 from three-point territory.
As the end of the first half approached, the Rebels had stretched their lead to 32-23 with an 11-3 run. The Tigers were not phased as they closed the half on a 7-3 run of their own, bringing the score to 35-30 going into the break.
In second half action, Phillips keyed a 9-0 run by grabbing two steals, hitting a three, and then finding a cutting Clark for a lay-in all within a matter of minutes to close the Ole Miss lead to one. The lid came off of Mizzou Arena when Wright hit a late-shot clock triple to give Mizzou its first lead of the second half at 13:52.
The Rebels and Tigers continued to trade buckets until Mizzou captured a late lead of four points, which was fueled by seven straight from Clark, followed by clutch three balls from both Phillips and Wright.
Clark had two decent looks to take the lead back from Ole Miss inside the final minute, and both shots were in and out of the bucket. The Rebels kept the win out of reach with clutch free throws.
The Tigers shot well from deep, hitting a season-high 47.6 percent of their three-point attempts, including hitting on 7-of-9 from downtown in the second half.
Mizzou looks to build on its resilient performance on the road at Alabama on Saturday, Feb. 6, with tipoff set for 2 p.m. on the SEC Network.
