Obaseki's massive MOment lifts A&M to a Quad 1A win at Ole Miss

Improbable come-from-behind Southeastern Conference basketball victories on the road are becoming a Texas A&M tradition.

Manny Obaseki nailed a 3-pointer with 13 seconds remaining to give the No. 13 Aggies (15-4, 4-2) a stunning 63-62 Quadrant 1A victory over No. 16 Ole Miss (15-4, 4-2) on Wednesday night in Oxford.

The Aggies trailed by 11 points with 17:02 remaining but steadily whittled away at the margin until Obaseki, who scored all of his 12 points in the second half, came through in the clutch.

A&M still had to sweat out a final Ole Miss possession. But forward Jaemyn Brakefield missed a jumper with two seconds remaining. Time expired as both teams scrambled to control the loose ball on the floor.

“Nearly every single possible thing analytically had to go right for us to even have a chance,” A&M coach Buzz Williams said. “I think our guys play with great belief in one another. In 2025, sometimes that at least gives you a chance when things don’t go your way.”

Two weeks ago, the Aggies notched a similarly unlikely victory when they stormed back from an 18-point deficit to prevail, 80-78, at Oklahoma. They won that one with a Zhuric Phelps 3-pointer with 19 seconds to play.

Phelps led the Aggies with 14 points. Pharrel Payne had 10 — like Obaseki, all in the second half — and Hayden Hefner added nine.

Ole Miss guard Sean Pedulla led the Rebels with 16 points, while forward Malik Dia and guard Jaylen Murray both had 12.

A&M won despite shooting just 38.7 percent from the field, only getting seven free throws and committing 20 turnovers, which the Rebels turned into 14 points.

But the Aggies compensated with typically strong defense and rebounding. They limited Ole Miss to 36.7 percent shooting from the field and out-rebounded the Rebels 48-31. The Aggies had 14 offensive boards, which resulted in 13 second-chance points.

Ole Miss held an 11-point lead three times in the first half. Yet, A&M managed to stay close and trailed just 33-26 at the break.

However, A&M struggled to start the second half, which enabled Ole Miss to take a 39-28 lead on a Dia layup.

A&M mounted a rally and pulled within 41-40 when Payne muscled in from underneath with 10:51 left.

However, Pedulla answered with a 3-pointer, which enabled Ole Miss to stave off the Aggies… at least for a while.

The Rebels held a 60-52 lead after Brakefield converted a conventional 3-point play with 3:49 left.

A&M’s defense allowed no field goals and forced four turnovers the rest of the way.

Meanwhile, Payne hit a couple of free throws, and Jace Carter and Phelps were awarded layups on goal-tending calls. The Aggies trailed just 60-58 with 29 seconds left but were forced to foul.

Jamie Maury, TexAgs

Texas A&M has won its last three games vs. Ole Miss. In those victories, Manny Obaseki has scored 25, 12 and now 12.

Guard Matthew Murrell seemingly staved off another A&M rally with a pair of free throws three seconds later.

“I think at some point in there when we had to start fouling, we were like at three fouls,” Williams said. “So a lot of that was just trying to create a little bit of chaos, knowing on the backside if the chaos didn’t bring us anything, we would have to foul.

“So many things had to go right because we were trying to overcome math. That’s really hard. Twenty turnovers is really hard math. If the opponent shoots more balls at home, and you have 20 turnovers, it’s probably not going to bode well.”

But everything fell right for the Aggies the rest of the way.

First, Phelps banked in a runner to bring A&M back within 62-60 with 21 seconds left.

Then, Ole Miss guard Davon Barnes missed the front end of a one-and-one. Solomon Washington snatched the rebound and passed the basketball to Phelps.

Phelps attacked the rim, but when the Ole Miss defense closed in, he passed to Obaseki near the right corner.

As the 6-foot-9 Dia converged, Obaseki lofted a high arc that gave the Aggies their only lead of the game.

“You see it often in sports these days where, ‘Hey, we’ll just try it again next time,’” Williams said. “And for whatever reason — other than how our young men were raised — they just hang around and try real hard and see if it can turn into something positive.”