OXFORD, Miss. (AP) - Chris Warren and Terrico White scored 19 points apiece as Ole Miss defeated Texas A&M-Corpus Christi 73-58, but head coach Andy Kennedy was hardly in a celebratory mood.
"When we got ahead, we went to cruise control and that's something we've got to address," Kennedy said. "We started scoreboard watching and we lost our edge."
Terrance Henry added a career-high 12 points for the Rebels (5-1), who raced to a 17-4 lead in the opening seven minutes. Ole Miss led 40-23 at halftime and led by as many as 26 points early in the second half.
Texas A&M-CC (4-3), led by Kevin Palmer with a game-high 23 points, made a belated rally to pull within 11 points with three minutes left. White sealed it for the Rebels with a steal and a layup.
"We came out fired up and made shots, then we got comfortable," White said. "We got passive with the lead and settled for too many outside shots. That was our fault."
The Rebels shot 27-of-63 from the field, 42 percent, but managed only 8-of-31 from three-point range. Kennedy made it a point to emphasize his concern about the shot ratio.
"We started settling for the three. They went to a 2-3 zone and played it for about 25 minutes," Kennedy said. "Palmer is the returning conference player of the year for them and he started to get good looks and knock his shots down. Give them credit."
Ole Miss played without leading rebounder Murphy Holloway, who rested an ankle injury after going through pregame warm ups. Starting guard Eniel Polynice left the bench area in the second half due to back pain and did not return.
"I thought Terrance Henry was the bright spot. We played a lot of minutes without Holloway and Polynice," Kennedy said. "Henry and the way we opened the game were positives."
Texas A&M-CC shot 21-of-52, 40 percent, from the field, but could not overcome a 1-for-11 start. The Islanders managed only 9-of-18 from the free throw line and were out rebounded 38-36.
"I don't think we were intimidated, but they came out hot and hit the open threes," said Palmer, who scored 15 in the second half. "We just didn't get much done for the first 30 minutes, but we can take something away for how we came back in the last 10 minutes."
