STARKVILLE — In several recent games, Mississippi State men’s basketball let much of its momentum slip away at or just before halftime.
Tuesday was quite a different story for a team that has looked much different lately.
Rather than fade in the final minutes of the first half, the Bulldogs (14-8, 2-7 Southeastern Conference) closed the period on an 11-4 run that spurred them to a comfortable 66-51 road victory over South Carolina (8-14, 1-8 SEC) on Tuesday night at Colonial Life Arena.
“We needed to get a road ‘dub,’” Mississippi State coach Chris Jans said. “We needed to get an SEC win in the worst way.”
MSU turned a one-point deficit into a six-point lead at the break and cruised from there, picking up the pace and cracking down on defense to stretch its lead.
The Bulldogs were led by guard Shakeel Moore, who scored a career-high 22 points and chipped in four rebounds, three assists and three steals.
Moore, who made three 3-pointers and scored 11 points in Saturday’s overtime win over TCU, made two triples Tuesday and finished 9 of 11 from the field.
His big game helped the Bulldogs win back-to-back games for the first time since Dec. 14 and Dec. 17 against Jackson State and Nicholls State, respectively.
“We got that taste out of our mouths,” Moore said. “We had a losing streak going on. We capitalized on it and got two back-to-back wins. It’s good for us. We continued to fight and execute.”
That’s been the case for the Bulldogs all season, from their 11-0 start to their five-game SEC losing skid to their recent resurgence.
And starting with a heartbreaking three-point loss Wednesday at Alabama, MSU’s quality of play has increased significantly.
The Bulldogs shot 52.9 percent from the field Tuesday night and made 75 percent of their free throws, both encouraging signs for a team with an inconsistent offense.
A beautiful sequence featuring a Moore 3 then a behind-the-back pass from Cameron Matthews to Tolu Smith for a fastbreak dunk was the perfect example of Mississippi State’s improvement. The five-point spurt pushed MSU’s lead to a game-high 20 with 2:07 to play.
The Bulldogs led by double digits for all of the final 7:38 after the second of two free throws by Smith, who finished with 15 points and went 5 of 6 at the line.
New Hope product Tyler Stevenson added 12 points, scoring six of them in a three-minute stretch in the first half that kept MSU afloat early on.
The Bulldogs last trailed on a 3-pointer by Meechie Johnson with 4:25 left in the first half. They scored the next six points, capped by a jumper from Moore, and took a 32-26 lead into the break.
Six straight MSU points out of halftime pushed the lead to double digits, and the Gamecocks couldn’t recover. Gregory “GG” Jackson II and Johnson each sank 3s to cut the lead back to six, but South Carolina never got closer.
Barely three minutes later, a 3-pointer from MSU’s D.J. Jeffries made it a 14-point game.
“Our team continues to stick together and fight together, and I just think we pulled it away,” Moore said.
Riding the high of its newfound winning streak, Mississippi State will host Missouri (16-5, 4-4 SEC) at 5 p.m. Saturday. The Tigers are one spot outside the AP Top 25 after a win Saturday over No. 13 Iowa State.
Theo DeRosa reports on Mississippi State sports for The Dispatch. Follow him on Twitter at @Theo_DeRosa.
You can help your community
Quality, in-depth journalism is essential to a healthy community. The Dispatch brings you the most complete reporting and insightful commentary in the Golden Triangle, but we need your help to continue our efforts. In the past week, our reporters have posted 24 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.
You can help your community
Quality, in-depth journalism is essential to a healthy community. The Dispatch brings you the most complete reporting and insightful commentary in the Golden Triangle, but we need your help to continue our efforts. In the past week, our reporters have posted 24 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.
