STARKVILLE — Bouncing back from losses to Minnesota and Colorado State, the Mississippi State men’s basketball team rode a dominant performance down the stretch of the first half to a 79-50 win over Georgia State on Tuesday night at Humphrey Coliseum.
“I’m really happy about the win and excited about the way we played defense tonight,” said Bulldogs coach Ben Howland, pleased at how role players stepped up and how his team moved the ball on offense. “We did a great job defensively and offensively, and you know out of the 24 baskets we scored 21 of them were assisted.”
Howland’s group had leads in each of their previous losses but couldn’t close out opponents down the stretch. It was different against Georgia State, as the Bulldogs dominated from start to finish and showed focus.
The Panthers were hot early from 3-point range, but as the Bulldogs settled in the points were harder to come by. Mississippi State led 43-22 at halftime, as Iverson Molinar and DJ Jeffries each had 13 points at the break, the latter stealing the show with some nice 3s and a dunk off of an alley-oop.
The second half saw the Bulldogs close out efficiently and get good minutes for their bench players, including birthday boy Issac Stansbury, who floated in the final bucket for the Bulldogs. Molinar scored 18 points, and Jeffries finished with 15.
“It shows how deep of a team we have, having Cam (Carter, 7 points, 3 assists in 13 minutes) come off the bench as a freshman, Derek (Fountain, 10 points, 9 rebounds, 3 steals) coming off the bench,” Molinar said. “It shows us we have really good talent in the team in order to be successful.”
The Bulldogs outrebounded the Panthers 41-27, and MSU outscored Georgia State 26-4 from the line, making 26 of 30 attempts. The Bulldogs shot 54.5 percent from the floor while holding the Panthers to 32.8 percent.
The Bulldogs (7-3) will face Furman at home on Friday and Winthrop in Jackson on Tuesday, Dec. 21 before starting their SEC campaign against Arkansas at the Hump on Dec. 29.
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