<p>FRISCO, Texas — Freshman Kenneth Lofton Jr. scored a season-high 22 points with seven rebounds and Louisiana Tech beat short-handed Mississippi 70-61 on Friday night in the first round of the NIT Tournament.</p>
<p>Louisiana Tech (22-7) will play Western Kentucky on Thursday in the quarterfinals.</p>
<p>Lofton scored 11 points in the first 10:13 of the second half to spark Louisiana Tech’s 22-4 run for a 49-41 lead. The Bulldogs scored 15 straight points during the run, opened and closed by Lofton. Ole Miss started the half 2 of 13 from the field.</p>
<p>Neither team made a field goal in the final two minutes with Louisiana Tech making 7 of 8 free throws down the stretch to seal it.</p>
<p>Amorie Archibald scored all 14 of his points in the second half, and he added seven assists for Louisiana Tech. Kalob Ledoux added 10 points and Cobe Williams, with a broken finger on his left hand, scored eight points.</p>
<p>Jarkel Joiner led Ole Miss (16-12) with 22 points. Luis Rodriguez scored all 10 of his points in the first half.</p>
<p>Joiner sank a 3-pointer just before the halftime buzzer to extend Mississippi’s lead to 37-27. He had 11 points in the half and Rodriguez grabbed seven rebounds as the Rebels held a 23-13 advantage on the glass. Ole Miss was behind 18-8 before Joiner scored five points during 12-2 run to tie it.</p>
<p>Mississippi was without Devontae Shuler, the SEC’s active leader in career steals (185) and career assists (329), due to family reasons, and KJ Buffen, who entered the transfer protocol. </p>
<hr />
<p>For more AP college basketball coverage: <a href="https://apnews.com/Collegebasketball">https://apnews.com/Collegebasketball</a> and <a href="http://twitter.com/AP_Top25">http://twitter.com/AP_Top25</a></p>
