COLUMBIA, Mo. — Chris Jans knew how lucky Mississippi State had gotten when Missouri’s Kobe Brown missed a point-blank layup right under the basket in the final seconds of regulation.
Decades of coaching have shown Jans what missed chances like that can do to the team that fails to convert.
“I thought, ‘This is the break. This is the one that’s going to give us a chance to steal one on the road,’” Jans said.
Brown’s miss sent Tuesday’s game between MSU and Missouri at Mizzou Arena to overtime. With 20 seconds left, Mississippi State pulled ahead by one point on a jumper by Dashawn Davis.
But the Bulldogs ended up having one stolen from them instead.
A contested 3-pointer by Missouri’s Nick Honor with seven seconds to play sent MSU (18-10, 6-9 SEC) to a 66-64 loss to Missouri (20-8, 8-7 SEC) at Mizzou Arena.
Honor and Noah Carter made 3s for the Tigers in the final minute of overtime, giving Missouri the victory in a wild, back-and-forth game in Columbia.
The Bulldogs went to overtime in a road SEC game for the second time in three days, but unlike Saturday at Ole Miss, they failed to come out on top. The two teams traded 3-pointers early in overtime, but Carter’s 3 with 47 seconds left put Missouri up by two points. Davis answered for Mississippi State, but Honor pulled up from the left wing and drained the winning shot in the closing seconds.
Davis missed a jumper at the buzzer as MSU lost to the Tigers and fell to 6-9 in SEC play.
Mississippi State shot 0 for 10 from 3 in the second half, going cold down the stretch despite multiple chances to hit big baskets.
“We fought,” guard Eric Reed Jr said. “Obviously, at the end, shots weren’t going in. We’ve just got to play better from the jump.”
After trailing for nearly all of the final 10 minutes, Mississippi State rallied late to send the game to overtime. Forward/center Tolu Smith made two clutch free throws in the closing seconds of regulation to tie the contest, and a point-blank look from Brown under the basket rimmed out before time expired.
Mississippi State had led for most of the first part of the second half, but a stretch midway through the period got the Tigers right back in the game.
An alley-oop to Brown fired up the home crowd. The Tigers forced a turnover on the sideline, and Brown tied the game 44-44 with a short jump shot. MSU called timeout with 10:05 to play, but the damage was done.
A pair of Nick Honor free throws gave Missouri a four-point lead — a large advantage in a game as close as Tuesday’s — with 6:53 to play.
The Bulldogs stayed within one possession before tying the game on Smith’s free throws with 8.7 seconds left.
MSU’s performance in the clutch made for a disappointing ending after the Bulldogs hung with Missouri throughout a back-and-forth half.
Dashawn Davis was fouled on a 3-pointer and made all three of his free throws to close a period featuring six ties and 12 lead changes.
MSU’s lead was three at the break, but Jans said it could have been bigger.
“I was disappointed at halftime,” Jans said. “I didn’t think we played very well in the first half.”
Mississippi State’s 5-0 lead less than three minutes into the game was the biggest advantage for either team in the first 20 minutes.
Freshman Shawn Jones Jr. and Reed provided sparks off the bench early for the Bulldogs. Jones had an impressive putback layup and a stunning chasedown block on Missouri’s D’Moi Hodge; Reed was 3 for 6 from the field, including a pair of 3-pointers, as he scored his most points since Jan. 7 against Ole Miss.
Smith led the Bulldogs with 14 points, and D.J. Jeffries had 10. Brown led Missouri with 17, and Hodge had 16.
MSU will host No. 25 Texas A&M (21-7, 13-2 SEC) at 2:30 p.m. Saturday at Humphrey Coliseum. The Bulldogs have just three regular-season games remaining, and Tuesday’s loss makes each one all the more important.
“We want to be playing at the end of March, so these next three are going to be dogfights,” Reed said. “We know that.”
Theo DeRosa reports on Mississippi State sports for The Dispatch. Follow him on Twitter at @Theo_DeRosa.
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