Mississippi 75, Mississippi St. 65

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Posted 6:40PM on Saturday, January 14, 2006

OXFORD, Miss. (AP) Todd Abernethy ended Mississippi's most pesky losing streak and prolonged the Rebels' string of SEC success. Abernethy scored nine of his 22 points in the final minutes in Ole Miss' 75-65 victory over Mississippi State on Saturday, as the Rebels snapped an eight-game losing streak to the Bulldogs. Ole Miss (13-3, 3-0 Southeastern Conference) has won seven straight since a mid-December loss to No. 5 Memphis, and has won its first three league games for the first time since 1997-98. ``We're excited about being 3-0, but we're going to get better,'' Abernethy said. ``That's the key. If we're going to get to where we want to be, then we've still got to get better. We aren't there yet.'' Dwayne Curtis added 17 points and eight rebounds for the Rebels, who extended their best start since 2001-02, when they last reached the NCAA tournament. It was Ole Miss' first win in the series since a 66-59 victory over the Bulldogs on Jan. 12, 2002, a victory which capped the Rebels' most recent 13-3 start. ``It feels a little better that I won't have to read about (the losing streak) in the paper tomorrow,'' Ole Miss coach Rod Barnes said. ``I don't look at it like, `This is Mississippi State and we have to win this one.' It's more about how they are one of the best teams in the SEC West. We need to win those type of games against some of the better teams in our league.'' Charles Rhodes had 24 points to lead Mississippi State (11-5, 1-2), which lost its second straight. Jamont Gordon added 11 points, nine rebounds and nine assists. ``We're a team that's still in progress,'' Bulldogs coach Rick Stansbury said. ``Rhodes played big, and there were huge numbers for Gordon. We just need some of the other guys to step up, and the pieces will fall in place.'' The Rebels led by as many as 14 in the second half before the Bulldogs cut it to 64-58 with 5 minutes remaining. Abernethy then hit consecutive baskets, added an assist to Curtis and made a 3-pointer and a free throw in the final 38 seconds to help Ole Miss pull away. ``I remember when he was a freshman and Mississippi State would pressure him and he would make mistakes and get nervous, but he didn't let that faze him,'' Barnes said of Abernethy. Ole Miss took control in the first half with an 18-3 run which snapped an early 10-10 tie, led by as many as 15 in the half and were up 44-33 at the break. ``When you've lost to a team as many times as we had lost to State, there is uncertainty,'' Barnes said. ``You need to be the team that has that 18-3 run and (gets) off to a good start. It erases any pressure.'' Mississippi State closed to six points twice in the second half. The Rebels shot nearly 50 percent (29 of 60) from the field and were 7 of 19 from 3-point range. Abernethy was 4 of 7 from behind the arc. Mississippi State had 17 turnovers despite shooting 49 percent in losing for the first time in four meetings in Oxford. ``They just played harder than we did,'' the Bulldogs' Dietric Slater said. ``It was their day.'' (Copyright 2006 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)