ATLANTA — Ole Miss’ men’s basketball team had a sweet ride through the NCAA Tournament, but it was a few points short of being truly elite.

Jaden Akins hit a go-ahead basket with 1:27 left, and Michigan State went 6-for-6 from the free throw line after that to beat Ole Miss 73-70 in the third round of the NCAA Tournament on Friday night.

“I thought our guys went pound for pound, nose to nose. That was a really tough basketball game,” Ole Miss coach Chris Beard said. “I thought it would be the first one to 70 wins, and it turned out to be almost true.”

No. 2 seed Michigan State (30-6) advanced to the South Regional final Sunday against No. 1 Auburn, which beat Michigan 78-65 later Friday night.

Sean Pedulla had a game-high 24 points for the Rebels, Matthew Murrell scored 13 and Malik Dia had 11. Jase Richardson finished with 20 points for Michigan State, while Coen Carr scored 15 and Akins had 13.

Ole Miss (24-12) reached the tournament’s Sweet 16 round for the first time since 2001, but couldn’t get to the Elite 8 for the first time in school history.

It was the final game at Ole Miss for six seniors, most of whom arrived through the transfer portal on an “all in” mission to reach the Final Four.

“Just super appreciative of our players raising the expectations for themselves and our program. Now our fans feel it, our students feel it, our town feels it,” Beard said. “Ole Miss basketball isn’t going anywhere, and we’ll never forget these seniors that took us on a special ride this year.”

The Rebels led 48-39 with 12 minutes left, but Michigan State surged ahead with a 14-2 run. Ole Miss went 1-for-10 from the field during Michigan State’s run, then picked itself off the mat. A 3-pointer by Sean Pedulla with 6:42 left tied the game at 53, and the teams played to a stalemate until the last 90 seconds.

After Akins’ basket with 1:27 put the Spartans ahead 65-63, Ole Miss’ Dre Davis missed two shots that were both rebounded by Michigan State. Carson Cooper made another shot with 40 seconds left, then Akins made two free throws and Tre Holloman four to close it out down the stretch.

Holloman finished with 10 points.

Pedulla’s putback basket with 13 seconds left got the Rebels to within 69-67. Holloman was fouled on the inbounds play, however, and his sharp free throw shooting restored the two-possession lead. He made two more free throws after a Rebel miss to push it to 73-67. Murrell made a meaningless 3-pointer at the buzzer for the final margin.

Michigan State finished 19-for-22 at the free throw line. Ole Miss was 9-for-10.

“Baskets were hard to come by for both teams. I thought the free throw differential in the game, maybe there will be another time and setting to talk about that. Yeah, I thought that was the difference in the game,” Beard said. “Give Michigan State credit. Obviously it was their offensive game plan. They weren’t going inside as much to their post players. Their guards were just trying to attack. So I thought that was the difference in the game, the free throw differential.”