NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Darius Acuff Jr. scored five of his 24 points in overtime and No. 17 Arkansas held off Mississippi 93-90 Saturday to reach the Southeastern Conference Tournament championship game for the first time since 2017.
The third-seeded Razorbacks (25-8) will play No. 22 Vanderbilt, which routed No. 4 Florida earlier Saturday.
Acuff, the SEC’s scoring leader and league’s player and freshman of the year, also had seven assists. Meleek Thomas led Arkansas with 29 points, Trevon Brazile had 16 points with 10 rebounds along with the final free throw and Malique Ewin added 14.
Ole Miss (15-20) ends its improbable run after the 15th-seeded Rebels became the second double-digit seed to win three games at this event, joining Auburn in 2015.
The Rebels, who held off a furious rally in stunning No. 15 Alabama on Friday night, forced overtime by outscoring the Razorbacks 8-1 with AJ Storr’s layup tying it at 79 with 1.1 seconds left.
Ewin put Arkansas ahead to stay with a dunk 10 seconds into overtime. Ole Miss had a chance to take the lead with 3 seconds left, but Storr’s 3 clanked off the front rim.
Storr led Ole Miss with 24 points. Malik Dia added 16.
Up next
Ole Miss heads home with coach Chris Beard trying to build on a roster that had to replace four starters coming into this season.
Arkansas can give coach John Calipari his seventh SEC Tournament title and first with the Razorbacks with a win Sunday.
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This story has been updated to show this is Arkansas’ first trip to the SEC Tournament championship game since 2017.
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