THE ASSOCIATED PRESSWake Forest's Steve Lepore tries to shoot in a crowd against South Carolina State.

Justin Reed scored 17 points, including the winning basket on a three-point play with 24 seconds remaining, to give host Mississippi a 71-67 victory over No. 22 Memphis Friday night.

Ole Miss (6-2) trailed for most of the second half until Derrick Allen got fouled on a layup and completed a three-point play to give the Rebels a 66-63 lead with 1:50 left.

Dajuan Wagner made a driving layup over two Ole Miss defenders to cut the lead to 66-65 with 1:38 remaining. Kelly Wise got a tip-in to give Memphis a 67-66 lead with 45 seconds left.

After Reed's three-point play, Wagner drove the ball down the lane and had it blocked by Allen with 6.7 seconds remaining and Memphis (6-3) lost its fourth consecutive game to Ole Miss.

Top 25

· Wake Forest 115, South Carolina State 75 -- Darius Songaila had 25 points and 10 rebounds as No. 23 Wake Forest (6-2) beat overmatched South Carolina State (1-6) at home.

Other games

· Washington State 70, Texas-Pan American 67 -- Jerry McNair scored 26 points, including nine during Washington State's 16-5 run late in the second half, as the host Cougars (4-2) beat Texas-Pan American (5-3). Mike Chatman led Texas-Pan American with 29 points.

· Louisville 90, Wis.-Milwaukee 75 -- Ellis Myles recorded his third straight double-double with 13 points and 15 rebounds as host Louisville (3-1) beat Wisconsin-Milwaukee (3-4) in the first game of the Jim Thorpe Classic.

· Murray State 66, Virginia Tech 63 -- Antione Whelchel scored 22 points and Cuthbert Victor added 11 points and five rebounds to lead Murray State (5-2) against Virginia Tech (5-3) in the second game of the Jim Thorpe Classic.

· Georgia 77, Minnesota 55 -- Jarvis Hayes returned after missing three games with a sprained knee to score 18 points in Georgia's 77-55 victory over Minnesota. The Bulldogs im

proved to 6-1, while the Gophers are 4-3.

· SW Missouri 98, Southern U. 71 -- Scott Brakebill (25 points, 13 rebounds) and Mike Wallace (21, 11) each had double-doubles as host Southwest Missouri State (3-3) beat Southern (0-5) in the first round of the Pizza Hut Classic.

· Texas-San Antonio 81, Idaho St. 72 -- Ike Akotaobi and Devin Brown each scored 19 points as Texas-San Antonio (4-1) beat Idaho State (3-3) in the first round of the Pizza Hut Classic at Southwest Missouri State.

Women

· Michigan 81, Washington St. 59 -- LeeAnn Bies scored 18 points to lead No. 16 Michigan (6-1) past Washington State (2-6) in the opening game of the Pac-10/Big Ten Challenge.

· Also: North Carolina Central coach Phil Spence had a mild stroke and will miss the team's game against Catawba today. The 47-year-old coach is expected to be hospitalized four to six days.