Nov. 13, 2012

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OXFORD, Miss. - Junior Marshall Henderson scored a game-high 27 points and Ole Miss outscored Coastal Carolina 54-33 in the second half as the Rebels downed the Chanticleers 90-72 on Tuesday night.

The Hurst, Texas guard posted his second straight 20-plus point game to begin his Rebel career, hitting 6 of 13 from beyond the three-point arc. Henderson has averaged 24.5 points per game in his first two games.

"The way that he approaches the game is fairly constant," said Ole Miss head coach Andy Kennedy. "Every day when I go to practice, if I go out there, I see him there 20 minutes early. It's no secret that he's earned the right to be a good shooter. Our guys now understand that he is a weapon."

Senior Murphy Holloway added 15 points and 12 rebounds for his second straight double-double, and the 27th of his career, tying him for seventh all-time with Fred Cox in school history. Holloway's 12 rebounds also moved him into a tie for seventh all-time in school history with Rebel great Justin Reed at 766 career boards.

The Rebels shot 50.8 percent from the field, 56.3 percent in the second half, led by Jarvis Summers and Aaron Jones, who shot a combined 7 for 8 from the field in the second half. Jones had 10 points and four rebounds, while senior guard Nick Williams added 11 points.

The Rebels trailed 36-39 at halftime, but came out shooting led by Henderson's 14 second-half points, to coast to the 18-point victory. The Rebel defense stepped up as well, holding Coastal Carolina to 35.5% shooting from the field in the second half.

"I didn't like our approach at all in the first half," said Kennedy. "We were flat.  We weren't as engaged early, but then we had a little spurt and got control. We had a talk about some things at the half and our upperclassmen stepped up in the second half. We pushed it back and got control back of things fairly early."

The Chanticleers were led by Anthony Raffa's 20 points and Michel Enanga's 10 points and 12 rebounds.

"I have a lot of respect for Cliff Ellis," said Kennedy. "I knew that he was going to tell his guys that if you come into an SEC program and you don't rebound, you're going to get blown out of the building. That's what they did. I saw an intensity and pursuit of the ball."

The Rebels will host Arkansas-Little Rock this Friday at the Tad Smith Coliseum with tip-off set for 7 p.m. CT.