MURFREESBORO, Tenn. — On a day when Middle Tennessee celebrated its arena’s 40th anniversary, it earned a rare home victory over an SEC opponent.

Kerry Hammonds’ baseline jump shot with 40 seconds remaining and late free throws, and Middle Tennessee handed Ole Miss its first loss of the season with a 65-62 victory on Saturday at the Murphy Center.

The Blue Raiders (7-2) earned their first home victory over an SEC opponent since beating Vanderbilt 93-90 in overtime on Feb. 1, 1995.

“It was an amazing crowd, and we knew it was a big opportunity,” Hammonds said. “It’s not often that you get an SEC team coming into the Murphy Center, so we knew we had to take advantage of it.”

Marcos Knight’s 14 points led Middle Tennessee.

Hammonds’ shot broke a 59-59 tie, and Middle Tennessee made 4 of 6 free throws to finish off the victory.

“I came and got the ball on a hand off. I wanted to go to the rim because I felt [Marshall] Henderson on my hip, and then he fell trying to take a charge,” Hammonds said. “So I just shot it because I was wide open. I had to shoot it. I mean if I’m open, I’m going to shoot it.”

Ole Miss (6-1), which had the nation’s best turnover margin, committed a season-high 18 turnovers against Middle Tennessee’s swarming defense. And the Rebels, ranked second nationally in scoring (87-point average), never found an offensive rhythm.

“I didn’t anticipate that they would just take our ball like sometimes happens with your big brother,” Ole Miss Coach Andy Kennedy said. “They just took our ball.”

KENTUCKY 74, PORTLAND 46

LEXINGTON, Ky. - Alex Poythress and Archie Goodwin (Sylvan Hills) each scored 15 points to help lead Kentucky (6-3) past Portland.

Four Wildcats finished in double figures: Poythress, Goodwin, senior Julius Mays (13) and sophomore Kyle Wiltjer (12).

Ryan Nicholas finished with 15 points and 13 rebounds for Portland (3-6).

TOP 25 MEN NO. 1 INDIANA 100, CENTRAL CONN. STATE 69

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. - Christian Watford scored 21 points and Cody Zeller had 19 points and a career-high 19 rebounds in No. 1 Indiana’s rout of Central Connecticut State.

Indiana is off to its second consecutive 9-0 start under Tom Crean. It has won 13 in a row at Assembly Hall and 27 consecutive non-conference home games.

In other Top 25 games, Seth Curry scored 23 points to lead No. 2 Duke to a 90-67 victory over Temple at the Izod Center in East Rutherford, N.J. ... Michael-Carter Williams had 15 points and a career-high 16 assists, C.J. Fair finished with 14 points and 10 rebounds and No. 4 Syracuse pounded Monmouth of New Jersey 108-56 in Syracuse, N.Y. ... Russ Smith scored a career-high 31 points, powering No. 5 Louisville to a 99-47 rout of Missouri-Kansas City in Louisville, Ky. ... Deshaun Thomas had 18 points, including a three-pointer in an 11-point run in the first half, and No. 7 Ohio State cruised past Long Beach State 89-55 in Columbus, Ohio. Mark Lyons scored 20 points and No. 8 Arizona used a late second-half run to improve to 7-0 for the first time in 14 years, beating Clemson 66-54 in Clemson, S.C. ... Ben McLemore scored 24points, Kevin Young added 16 points and eight rebounds and No. 9 Kansas routed former Big 12 member Colorado 90-54 in Lawrence, Kan. ... Cashmere Wright set a career high with six three-pointers, and Sean Kilpatrick scored 19 of his 23 points in the first half, keeping No. 11 Cincinnati (9-0) unbeaten with a 92-60 victory over Maryland-Eastern Shore in Cincinnati. ... Stefan Jankovic scored all 14 of his points in the second half in No. 12 Missouri’s 68-38 victory over Tennessee State in Columbia, Mo. ... No. 15 Georgetown held Towson scoreless over the final 4 1/2 minutes, and the Hoyas recovered from a 17-point first half en route to a 46-40 victory in Washington. ... Gary Harris scored 20 points and No. 19 Michigan State pulled away in the second half for a 73-61 victory over Loyola of Chicago in East Lansing, Mich. ... Leslie McDonald scored 14 points and No. 20 North Carolina held East Tennessee State to 12 points in the first half in a 78-55 victory in Chapel Hill, N.C. ... Freshman Cameron Biedscheid had a career-high 17 points to lift No. 22 Notre Dame to a 84-57 triumph over Brown in South Bend, Ind. ... Markel Brown scored 15 points, Michael Cobbins and Le’Bryan Nash each added 10 and No. 23 Oklahoma State took care of Missouri State 62-42 in Stillwater, Okla. ... Cleanthony Early scored 16 points and No. 24 Wichita State got off to a fast start on its way to a 80-54 rout of Northern Colorado in Wichita, Kan. ... Richard Howell had 17 points and 10 rebounds to help No. 25 N.C. State beat Cleveland State 80-63 in its annual return to its former arena Reynolds Coliseum in Raleigh, N.C.

Sports, Pages 26 on 12/09/2012