STARKVILLE — The play design came from associate head coach James Miller, and it was not a play Chris Jans had ever run while trailing by a point in the final minute.
The fact that Mississippi State was trailing Murray State in the final minute Wednesday night was alarming in itself, considering the Bulldogs had led by as many as 19 early in the second half. But Cameron Matthews beat his defender on a backdoor cut to the basket, and Dashawn Davis led him perfectly with a pass for the alley-oop that gave MSU the lead inside of 30 seconds remaining.
The Bulldogs’ defense, which struggled uncharacteristically for much of the night, clamped down late as MSU escaped with an 85-81 win over the Racers.
“If it didn’t work out, there would be hundreds of people questioning me why we ran a lob play down one,” Jans said. “At that point in the game, a lot of people have a lot of suggestions, and I’m glad they do. James Miller suggested we run that play, and I gravitated toward it right away. It’s a play we run a ton, not just here but previous stops. It’s always been in our library.”
It looked for the first 25 minutes that the Bulldogs (8-2) would need no late-game magic — their offense picked up right where it left off from Saturday’s 106-76 drubbing of Tulane. MSU made 13 shots in a row at one point, started the game 15-for-16 from the floor and finished the first half 18-of-23, with just one of the misses coming inside the 3-point arc.
Shakeel Moore, making his second consecutive start alongside Davis in the backcourt, made all five of his field goal attempts and led the Bulldogs with 16 points, 14 of which came in the first half. With 53 points at the break, MSU was on pace to hit the century mark for the second straight game.
“I feel like I’m an all-around guy,” Moore said. “My strength is defense, but I’ve learned to come with confidence as well to be able to hit shots.”
The second half began with more of the same — the Bulldogs forced the ball inside for high-percentage shots at the rim. After a layup by Jimmy Bell Jr., dunks by Matthews and D.J. Jeffries and a layup from Davis, MSU’s lead swelled to 63-44. But the Bulldogs’ defense, which is allowing the fewest points per game in the Southeastern Conference, allowed the Racers (3-6) to roar back.
Thanks to strong shooting of its own, Murray State hung around even as MSU seemingly forgot how to miss in the first half. And when the Bulldogs went cold, the Racers stayed hot, reeling off 15 straight points to cut the MSU lead to three. A 3-pointer by Rob Perry, who finished with a game-high 21 points, gave Murray State its first lead of the night with three minutes and change to go.
“The guys (who) subbed in kind of relaxed a little bit,” Matthews said. “We just have to get in the film (room), correct those little mistakes and get back to it.”
Freshman Josh Hubbard’s 3-pointer on the ensuing Bulldogs possession gave the hosts the lead back, but JaCobi Wood, who added 18 points of his own, connected from deep inside of two minutes left to put the Racers ahead 81-79. Murray State finished 12-for-23 from 3-point range, easily MSU’s worst performance of the season in terms of perimeter defense.
But with the specter of the blown lead against Southern on Dec. 3 following them, the Bulldogs refused to let another one slip away. Following his dunk, Matthews’ defense on Perry forced an off-target jumper, and Jeffries pulled down the rebound. Jeffries knocked down a pair of free throws to extend the lead to three, and then Wood’s would-be game-tying 3-pointer just ahead of the buzzer came up short.
MSU is back in action Sunday against North Texas at Cadence Bank Arena in Tupelo. Meanwhile, the Bulldogs got some good news regarding star post player Tolu Smith, who will be cleared to practice with contact on Friday.
“In two days, or in a week, no one’s going to be talking about the Murray State game and what the score was,” Jans said. “It’s just going to be a W or an L, and that’s the bottom line. (But) In the second half, we just didn’t have as many guys ready to go, for whatever reason. We just didn’t get the same kind of production, and I’m not talking about the stat sheet. It really hurt us in this particular game.”
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