The LSU men’s basketball team had good and bad moments Wednesday night, but it did enough on both sides of the ball to come out with a crucial 75-71 road victory against Ole Miss. 
Junior guard Keith Hornsby sprung the LSU (13-3, 2-1 Southeastern Conference) offense with 20 of his team-high 23 points in the second half, nailing five of 10 3-point attempts to give the Tigers their first win in Oxford since 2009. 
The Rebels (10-6, 1-2 SEC) shot a woeful 34.6 percent from the field, but out-rebounded the Tigers by six and scored 13 more second-chance points to stay in the game.
“We knew it was going to be a hard fought contest here tonight,” coach Johnny Jones said in a radio interview. “Ole Miss is an excellent basketball team.  They’ve done a tremendous job … I’m pleased, certainly, with the effort.  It was a great opportunity victory here, especially in the conference race and road win. We look forward to those challenges ahead for us.”
Junior point guard Josh Gray had another impressive night running the LSU offense with a double-double (15 points, 10 assists), his first of the season. Sophomore forwards Jordan Mickey and Jarell Martin were an effective combo in the paint for the first time since the win against Savannah State, each also finishing with double-doubles.
Mickey turned away six Ole Miss shots, allowing the Tigers to maintain a four-point advantage in the paint.
“I thought both [Gray and Hornsby] stepped up and played really well,” Jones said. “The thing that you like is that you’re getting a great team
effort from everybody. Those two guys have been excellent for us, and we have balance with the play inside.”
LSU led by as many as nine points with less than 16 minutes left in the second half, but the Rebels stormed back to go on a 12-0 run capped off by senior Ladarius White’s 3-pointer to give Ole Miss its first lead of the second half, 44-43.
The Tigers, though, would not be denied as they rattled off a 9-2 run with more than 10 minutes left in the game. The run included a monster dunk by sophomore guard Tim Quarterman over Rebels senior Aaron Jones, giving the Tigers a seven-point advantage again.
The Rebels would get as close as one point on junior Stefan Moody’s trey with 6:26 to go, but Hornsby responded three possessions later with a putback off freshman Jalyn Patterson’s airball.
Both teams struggled offensively for most of the first half, but LSU went on a 13-2 run in the last 4:14 to take a 32 -28 halftime lead.
After two straight sub-par performances to open up SEC play, Martin came out aggressive in the first half to lead all scorers with 10 points on 5-of-7 shooting to go with eight rebounds.
Quarterman’s three-pointer with two minutes to go in the first half gave the Tigers the lead for the first time after the 8:40 mark.  Prior to Quarterman’s bucket, LSU was 0-for-7 from deep against the Rebels’ 2-3 zone defense.
You can reach James Bewers on Twitter @JamesBewers_TDR.